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St. Louis bridge hits another roadblock

Apr 2, 2013 | 6:04 AM

The St. Louis bridge project has stalled again. Capital Steel, the Winnipeg company contracted to manufacture parts for the bridge, has been unable to deliver crucial steel girders to the construction site.

So far, Capital Steel has sent three trucks and trailers, each carrying one 160-foot-long girder on it. Two of them crashed in Manitoba.

“The first truck tipped near Dauphin when making a right on Feb. 4, then two trucks were sent on Feb. 11 and one of them tipped over north of Winnipeg,” said Kirstin Leatherdale, spokesperson for the Ministry of Highways.

“Obviously there was something with the configuration or something about the transport was not working and they needed to get that figured out,” she said.

The $2.7 million contract between the Ministry and Capital Steel, signed in 2009, stipulated that the girders would be at the site by February 2012. Failing to live up to these terms could be costly for Capital Steel.

“Contractors can receive penalties for not delivering on time and actually we do have penalties pending as a result towards Capital Steel for not having the girders delivered when they were originally supposed to be,” said Leatherdale.

Not one of the 21 girders required for the bridge are currently at the St. Louis site and the crew that was assigned to do the girder erection work has removed all of their materials.

The Ministry is unsure if this issue will further delay the bridge’s opening which was slated for late fall, “We’re not sure right now if the project is going to be delayed or not,” said Leatherdale.

There are still several things standing in the way of the girders making it to St. Louis:

– An independent engineer, hired by Capital Steel, is reviewing and improving the transportation plan for these girders;
– Manitoba’s motor carriers enforcement program is doing an investigation into the two February crashes;
– Capital Steel needs a permit to get one of the girders that was left in Dauphin back to its Winnipeg facility
In the meantime, road work is continuing on both the north and south side of the bridge construction site.

Originally, the St. Louis bridge was scheduled to be completed in 2012 but that was pushed back because of a steel shortage and a flock of threatened birds that nested near the bridge.

sleslie@panow.com

On Twitter: @_seanleslie