City confident in the quality of Walterdale Bridge after lawsuit alleges welding problems

A lawsuit filed recently over the delayed Walterdale Bridge alleges shortcuts and poorly-repaired steel defects could be bad enough to compromise its strength over the long term.



But City of Edmonton officials say their third-party engineers are ensuring Edmonton gets what it pays for and that they are confident in the safety and quality of the bridge.



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Barry Belcourt, Edmonton’s manager of road design and construction, said his team is aware of the lawsuit but confident in the quality of the bridge. They have a third-party, ISL Engineering, on site to monitor the work, and that includes documenting every weld and the X-rays used for quality control, each steel deficiency and how it’s been corrected.



“They’re our eyes and ears on site,” he said. “It’s the most rigorous quality control process we’ve ever put in place.”



Deficiencies are normal for a project of this magnitude, he said. What’s important is that they are caught and corrected. “At the end of the day, allegations are allegations. … They are common place in industry. We’re not caught off guard by this,” he said, adding that the city doesn’t get involved in disputes between a prime contractor and subcontractors.