Project Overview
Collins provided scour inspections of fifteen bridges, including thirty-six piers and twenty-one abutments, for the Canadian Pacific Railway. The bridges were located in the eastern United States—twelve in New York and three in Pennsylvania. The structures included stone masonry and concrete structures.
CPR notified all appropriate railroad entities of Collins’ presence during the field inspections and furnished any available design or as-built plans for the piers and abutments, which Collins reviewed. The scour inspections were conducted using underwater high resolution scanning and by surveying channel bottom elevations.
Some of the bridges were located in remote areas that required the inspectors to travel with the gear and personnel by boat through non-navigable waterways with fast and shallow moving water containing numerous timber and stone obstacles above and below the water surface. Access to one bridge required immediate coordination with the railroad to partially rebuild an access road so the team could reach the shoreline adjacent to the bridge by van.
Deliverables included a detailed letter report, including the inspection findings and underwater scanned image married with above water photography.