GZA honored by ACEC of Maine for work on Madawaska International Bridge

GZA GeoEnvironmental, Inc. (GZA), a leading multi-disciplinary firm providing geotechnical, environmental, ecological, water, and construction management services, has received an Engineering Excellence Award from the American Council of Engineering Companies of Maine (ACEC-ME) for its work on the new Madawaska-Edmundston International Bridge.

The project, led by the Maine Department of Transportation (MaineDOT), involved replacing the fatigued through-truss bridge over the St. John River between Maine and New Brunswick that first opened in 1920. The replacement bridge connects from the existing Canadian land port of entry (LPOE)  to the southwest across the river to the new US LPOE located 1,500 feet upstream. The new 1,850-foot long, six-span, steel girder, concrete deck bridge crosses not only the river but also two active railroad lines on either side of the river. It opened to traffic in August 2024.

Serving as a subcontractor to bridge designer HNTB Corporation, GZA and its partners overcame major engineering challenges including steep 40- to 60-foot high riverbanks, heavy vegetation, no vehicular access, and shallow, rapidly flowing river waters that precluded use of a barge for exploratory drilling to determine bedrock elevations for support of the bridge piers. GZA’s solutions for exploration and construction quality assurance included use of an over-water seismic refraction survey to locate bedrock, deploying helicopters to place customized drilling platforms and test boring drill rigs in precise locations, and designing a network of Thermal Integrity Profiling (TIP) sensors to confirm the reliability of the cast-in-place concrete drilled shaft pier foundations. This was the first bridge in Maine to use TIP testing as the primary drilled shaft concrete quality assurance tool. 

In a letter of endorsement to ACEC-ME, Laura Krusinski, Senior Geotechnical Engineer of the MaineDOT Bridge Program, recommended “that GZA be recognized for their exemplary geotechnical contributions on this significant project” and authorized “publication of the project’s exemplary geotechnical exploration innovations and foundation designs.”

GZA President and CEO Patrick Sheehan said: “The Madawaska-Edmundston International Bridge is a critical connection between Northern Maine and Eastern Canada. GZA was honored to contribute multiple innovative solutions to help realize the long-held goal for a modernized, expanded bridge between our countries.” 

In addition to MaineDOT and HNTB, GZA’s partners on the project including test boring subcontractor geophysical subcontractor VCS Engineering | NDT Division of Sterling, Massachusetts; New England Boring Contractors of Hermon, Maine; general contractor Reed & Reed of Woolwich, Maine; and drilled shaft contractor Malcolm Drilling of San Francisco, California. GZA’s project team included Associate Principal Andy Blaisdell, P.E., Principal Chris Snow, P.E., Project Manager Nicholas Williams, P.E., Project Manager Rayan Shamas, P.E., Assistant Project Manager Erin Tome, P.E., Assistant Project Manager Luis Navarrete, and Project Engineer Michael Deery.