The Waaban Crossing Bridge awarded in Canada

The latest accolade is the Project of the Year award from the Ontario Chapter of the American Concrete Institute (ACI Ontario Chapter)! This is major recognition from the profession for the reinforced concrete construction of this bridge, the design and construction of which was entirely supervised by SYSTRA IBT with Hatch and Kiewit as part of an IPD (Integrated Project Delivery) alliance contract with the town of Kingtson.

Our teams were involved in the execution studies, in particular for the design of the arch span and the prefabricated concrete beams, and then in the review of the studies and monitoring of the works.

The award was presented to SYSTRA at a ceremony held on 16 December 2023. The ACI had already awarded SYSTRA the Special Prize for the design of the Sheikh Jaber Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah causeway bridge in Kuwait.

Already many awards for the Waaban Crossing

This new ACI award comes on top of many others in the space of two years:

• 2023: ACEC Ontario – Award of Excellence
• 2023: Canadian Consulting Engineering – Award of Excellence
• 2023: Transportation Association of Canada – Infrastructure Achievement Award
• 2022: Ontario Rd. Builders Assoc. – Transportation Infrastructure Innovation Award 

Copyright: City of Kington, Aeronsapper

A pioneering bridge for all types of mobility

The Waaban Crossing Bridge is also particularly innovative because of the way it takes the environment into account. In addition to the modal shift and the desaturation of road traffic, its overall water footprint has been reduced by more than 50% compared with the initial environmental assessment. The integration of the bridge into the landscape of the Rideau Canal, a UNESCO World Heritage site, was the result of close dialogue between local and heritage stakeholders.

The navigability of the canal was preserved without delaying the worksite, while the durability of the structure delivered exceeds the legal requirements for the design of a bridge of this type: designed to last 75 years, the Waaban Bridge was designed for a final life of 100 years. The 1.2 km-long bridge crosses the Cataraqui River to provide a better link between the east and west of Kingston, improve traffic flow from one bank to the other, and encourage active modes of transport with a multi-use path dedicated to walking and cycling.