Supporting our communities Bridges
1,000+ We ve partnered with thousands of owners/clients to inspect, analyze, design, and manage their bridges, providing lasting community connections.
We design bridges that help communities move goods to market, bring services to those who need it, and get people where they need to go easily and safely. Designed to fit the local setting, our bridges support communities.
By providing a new connection between Kentucky s US 460 and Virginia s Coalfields Expressway, we re helping to reverse population and employment decline and expand tourism and economic development. Bridging the gap Bridging the gap whether over water, rail tracks, or roadways is essential if we want to get where we need to be, move goods to market, and bring services to our communities. As important as the travelers experiences are, so too are the experiences of the communities and the needs of the owner. Our sensitivity to each means that even our most complex bridge designs are balanced with a context sensitivity and solutions appropriate to clients budgets. Whether we re inspecting a bridge or designing a major interchange, we achieve this balance through our collaborative approach, enlisting the skills of specific specialists to match the requirements of individual projects. Supported by state-of-the-art analysis tools, our inhouse experts in structural and civil design, transportation engineering, seismic analysis, historic restoration, and environmental planning allow us to identify and explore a wide variety of creative yet practical solutions. The key for us is soliciting public input and understanding the context right from the project s beginning and following that up with open communication throughout design and construction. The result is a highly functional structure that not only serves mobility needs, but also enhances its community for decades to come.
Supporting the movement of... Vehicles Bridges are connections. A roadway approaching a barrier has two options it can find a longer route around the barrier, or it can bridge over the barrier, creating a connection to a roadway on the other side. At Stantec, we prefer the direct approach, designing roadway bridges that enhance the traveling experience of the community and reflect the local setting. From structures on major highways to long-span river crossings, to small rural connectors, our experience allows us to recommend the appropriate structure type and materials that make the most sense for our clients. Trains When you re looking at putting several tons of train on a bridge over a river or a roadway full of people, you want to know that everything that should be on top of the bridge stays that way and everything underneath that bridge is unaffected. Our rail bridge team makes sure that that s exactly how it works. Comprised of bridge engineers and specialists in track, signals, river engineering, and hydraulics, our rail bridge teams provide planning, design, and construction administration services. Along with safety and functionality, we strive for a contextually sensitive approach, often melding cultural components of the area into our designs and creating a signature bridge the community can be proud of. People Pedestrian bridges can provide aesthetically pleasing community connections, while increasing safety and promoting health and wellness. We design all types of pedestrian bridges in varying terrains over bodies of water, across major highways, and as extensions of trails. We work closely with our landscape architects and environmental scientists to design pedestrian bridges and approaches that both preserve and enhance the surrounding environment. We also take into account the various aspects of safety and accessibility for the physically challenged, providing the features they need to be able to explore their communities.
Bridges support the weight of a community. We don t take that lightly. Maximizing the value of our existing infrastructure is critical. Diligent inspection programs and strategic maintenance plans are part of our approach to help extend a bridge s lifespan. Our bridge inspection professionals understand every aspect of bridge management and apply this knowledge to help our clients assess the safety of their in-service bridges, while increasing reliability and structure service life and reducing monitoring, maintenance, and reconstruction or replacement costs. Before we conduct an inspection, we look for the best methods to access the structure as efficiently and cost-effectively as possible. Specialized techniques like SPRAT-certified rope access and dive teams give us hands-on access to critical locations on bridges that are otherwise difficult to see or in areas where the use of traffic control or standard access equipment is not feasible. As a result, we can provide our clients with more detailed inspections that increase accuracy and structure safety, and minimize traffic disruptions.
880' (268m) Whether we re 20' (6m) in the air or 880' (268m), we re strapping on the rope and harness and climbing all over the bridges we inspect to get as up close and personal as possible.
Creating lasting connections Like any element of a community, a bridge is a separate piece that s also part of the whole. The structural features, aesthetic elements, lighting, railings each component of a bridge forms its character. Whether we re designing a rural roadway bridge, a major freeway interchange, a rail crossing, or a pedestrian bridge, our approach is the same. We find the right materials and configuration to provide safe bridge crossings that accent the character of the surrounding environment. This approach applies whether the bridge we re designing is brand new or a replacement, a rehabilitation or a reconstruction. We draw on the culture of a community, adding aesthetic treatments or preserving and enhancing historic elements of a structure. Our bridges fit. They re not just links between and within communities; they re also links to the past and future. They celebrate history and connect us to where we re going.
10,000+ bridges, culverts, and other structures inventoried to help our clients manage their assets. In it for the long haul Over time, bridges are exposed to environmental and traffic loading conditions that lead to a natural deterioration of the bridge condition. Whether designing repairs for a single bridge, or determining needs for a group of bridges and prioritizing the work program, we re there to help. Our goal is to maximize a bridge s service life, while increasing structural or functional capacity wherever feasible. Keeping track of your assets isn t always easy, but it is manageable. Bridge management systems assist bridge owners in being able to do the right activity, to the right bridge, at the right time, and at the right cost. Beyond just an inventory or inspection tool, our advanced bridge management systems allow our clients to analyze individual bridge elements, entire bridges, or networks of bridges to proactively manage their inventory. This systematic approach allows for optimal allocation of financial resources and increased safety for bridge users.
Our people We re designers, engineers, and inspectors. We re driven by a distinct purpose to create and maintain bridges that connect and support communities. We work together with landscape architects and environmental scientists to provide creative solutions that fit within the context of the surrounding environment and serve our purpose for years and years. We are at the forefront. Through continuous and constant research, we find new solutions and approaches that guide us through challenging project issues and help us establish clear communication lines for maintaining schedules and budgets. At the same time our methods remain flexible to meet specific community needs. We recognize that each community has its own culture, and each solution we propose endeavors to further enhance that. We re ready to go to work for you. We re excited to share the knowledge, creativity, and solutions from our community, and are confident in our experts ability to positively impact yours. Our clients come to us because we provide the full range of bridge engineering services. From planning and conceptual design to engineering and construction, from inspection to maintenance and bridge management we ve got you covered at every stage of a bridge s life. Reed Ellis, Bridges Sector Leader 604' (184m) our team of bridge professionals worked across multiple office locations to design Canada s longest swinging bridge, at a clear span of 184 meters (604 feet).
Design with community in mind We re active members of the communities we serve. That s why at Stantec, we always design with community in mind. We collaborate across disciplines and industries to bring buildings, energy and resource, and infrastructure projects to life. Our work professional consulting in planning, engineering, architecture, interior design, landscape architecture, surveying, environmental sciences, project management, and project economics begins at the intersection of community, creativity, and client relationships. Since 1954, our local strength, knowledge, and relationships, coupled with our world-class expertise, have allowed us to go anywhere to meet our clients needs in more creative and personalized ways. With a long-term commitment to the people and places we serve, Stantec has the unique ability to connect to projects on a personal level and advance the quality of life in communities across the globe. Stantec trades on the TSX and the NYSE under the symbol STN.