Rapid Success
November 15, 2022
By: Alexa Schlosser
For five weekends in the fall of 2021, Priestly Demolition Inc. (PDI) crews logged over 9,000 working hours demolishing Toronto’s Gardiner Expressway Eastbound ramp, part of the city’s waterfront redevelopment plan. It was a quick and challenging project, but it was also a successful one, according Brian Priestly, vice president of operations at PDI.
“It was a monumental job because it changed the city’s skyline,” Priestly says. “It was an awesome opportunity for us to showcase a super difficult, large project that we could complete in the time asked.”
Project Pre-Planning
As soon as NDA member PDI received the job, weekly team meetings began. PDI strived to find the most efficient solutions for not only the demolition, but also the known job site challenges and potential scenarios that could arise. The job’s key considerations were to ensure minimal disruption to regular projects; protect the environmentally sensitive waterways; protect the steel beam guide below; and make sure the roadway could reopen each Monday morning.
Weekend 1: Deck Removal
Sixteen different crews got to work on the first weekend, logging over 3,400 working hours. Amid delays, noise and dust, the crews constantly communicated and worked together as a team to remove the asphalt and deck in preparation for the next phase. The goal of the first weekend was to expose as much steel as possible before moving the cranes in for the second weekend. To achieve this, operators worked on both decks simultaneously east and west at either end.
During the first weekend, PDI implemented innovative solutions to address some of the challenges the job posed. For example, as a way to protect the Keating Channel waterway and guard rails, the company implemented “deflector shields,” a safe and efficient way to direct falling debris from the deck above. Outrigger shields were also put in place to protect utilities and rails.
“The fabrication of deflector shields onto the excavators made them very mobile. They could travel around the job site to precise locations to protect guardrails or the waterway, and then quickly move to the next location. This also helped speed up the cleanup for Monday morning reopenings,” Priestly says.
Weekend 2: Girder Removal
Once all of the concrete deck was removed and the girders became accessible, removing the girders from the bents was the next priority. The operations team from Weekend 1 evaluated the progress made in those first few days and adjusted the plans for the second weekend. Weekend 2 included realistic targets, smaller crews and shorter shifts. Specialized teams were created to perform specialized tasks, and engineers were on-site to continually analyze the work as it went.
The work on the second weekend included removing bents on the west side to ground level. Crews also started the underground removal of bents on the east side and began to remove and process steel. Torch workers cut and separated the girders, and two 300-ton cranes moved them. Overall, the second weekend crew of 45 workers per shift removed 1,500 tons of steel and sorted and processed massive amounts of concrete, rebar and other materials.
Weekend 3: Bent Removal
The third weekend involved removing the steel bents above the Keating Channel Bridge over the river and removing concrete bents on the east side of the Don Roadway. Crews also removed the abutment at the east end and continued to remove bents below grade and backfill.
Weekends 4 and 5: Completion of Tasks
The last two weekends of the job included completing all below-grade removals on the east side and backfilling. Over the course of the weekends, PDI used 1,750,000 liters of water for dust control and 124,400 liters of fuel. Crews also removed 2,400 tons of asphalt, 2,500 tons of steel and 15,000 tons of concrete decking.
Key Challenges
There were many challenges over the course of the five weeks. The restriction of only being able to work on the weekends was a particular challenge. “The biggest challenge was the timeline,” Priestly says. “We had to make sure we could close the traffic down on Friday evenings and reopen it without issue for Monday morning — with no traffic or pedestrians interrupted for the Monday morning commute.”
Other challenges include ongoing construction work surrounding the expressway, making sure proper COVID-19 protocols were in place, getting the crews safely to the site with surrounding road closures, tight spaces for crane mobilization, water and rails on either side of the bridge, noise bylaws, being able to plan smooth and safe shift turnovers, and protecting the sensitive waterways.
“All bridge demolition is challenging, and coordinating 100 people per shift the first weekend, 50 people per shift the second weekend, making sure the logistics of the job were in place, having fuel delivered …” Priestly says. “There are many challenges, but the team was able to rise to the challenge, whether it was planned or unplanned, and deal with it in such a manner that the job was never in jeopardy. That was really the secret of our success.”
Project Highlights
In addition to completing 98% of the demolition work in five weekends and recycling 100% of the concrete, steel and asphalt, PDI is proud that the job was performed safely without incident, on time and on budget.
“PDI crew members were proud to be part of this rapid demo project and volunteered to work the weekend shifts on top of weekly Monday through Friday shifts,” Priestly says. “We took care of our crew with on site catering and accommodations for those from out of town. There were multiple generations of Priestly’s working together, side by side with the crew, which created a strong sense of family, teamwork and PDI pride.”
As a result of the successful work on the Gardiner Expressway Ramp, additional projects are in the works with EllisDon on the waterfront project.