Skip to main content

Canadian air

Compressors from Atlas Copco are proving highly useful in highly diverse applications, on a bridge project and a quarry in Canada. Water ingress over 30 years has damaged a road bridge in Quebec City, Canada, deteriorating the concrete and breaking down the rubber expansion joints at both ends of the 150m long structure. City highway authority, Transportes Quebec, awarded local contracting company Inter-Structures the contract to replace the deteriorated concrete and fit new membrane seals. The bridge, clos
February 8, 2012 Read time: 3 mins
Compressors from 161 Atlas Copco are proving highly useful in highly diverse applications, on a bridge project and a quarry in Canada. Water ingress over 30 years has damaged a road bridge in Quebec City, Canada, deteriorating the concrete and breaking down the rubber expansion joints at both ends of the 150m long structure. City highway authority, Transportes Quebec, awarded local contracting company Inter-Structures the contract to replace the deteriorated concrete and fit new membrane seals. The bridge, close to the St Lawrence river and Quebec City, links highway 440 West and the Boulevard de Chutes to provide access to a residential area and the renown Montmorency park and waterfall.

To ensure access to the damaged seals across the full width of the bridge, the contractor has removed more than 300mm x 200mm x 200mm on each of the nine beams at both ends of the bridge and the 200mm thick concrete slab; relying on two Atlas Copco XAS185 air compressors, including a recently delivered unit on rental from Equipment LAV.

On the Inter-Structures project, both XAS 185 portable air compressors are supplying a free air delivery of 89litres/s at 7bars to each provide compressed air for three breakers.

Meanwhile a newly formed Canadian quarry drill and blast contractor, Forexplo, has taken delivery of a second Atlas Copco XRVS 1000 CD6 air compressor.

Formed at the beginning of the year, 2455 Forexplo has established itself as a drill and blast specialist in Canada's Quebec Province. A key factor in meeting the production targets, is the on-demand high pressure air provided by the two Atlas Copco compressors for two large drill rigs. The firm now has drill and blast contracts with Beauval for the quarries in Valleyfield, Ange Gardien, some 55km south of Montreal and Herbertville on Lac St Jean. The XRVS 1000, rated at 25bars, is powered by a 178 Caterpillar C13 diesel and is said to be highly economical on fuel.

The Ange Gardien quarry was acquired by Beauval in in 1981 and has reserves for at least another 25 years, featuring micritic limestone and a black argillaceous slate. The site has three bench levels along the lkm long quarry andis Forexplo are drilling and blasting 8-12m deep bench heights. Depending on Beauval's requirements, Forexplo is typically drilling 56 holes for a blast to provide some 20,000tonnes. Using Atlas Copco standard or Speedbit 140mm bits, Forexplo is drilling up to 30m/h.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Bridging the gap in African infrastructure
    December 20, 2013
    Leading formwork manufacturers have secured some impressive contracts in Africa, as the continent’s transport infrastructure continues to improve at a rapid pace. Meanwhile, other bridgework equipment companies are also seeing their products in demand in Africa, as well as North America and Australia.
  • Concrete barrier challenge
    April 11, 2012
    The 5700C-Max unit from Power Curbers has now been used on a tricky shoulder widening job in New South Wales, Australia. The machine carried out the job close to Robertson in the Southern Highlands, about 1.5 hours drive to the south of Sydney. The job required the construction of a 200m long section of barrier, built to the requirements of the Roads and Traffic Authority (RTA). The contractor hand-formed the concrete shoulder as it was about 3m wide at the start and narrowed down to 1m at the end.
  • Highway project in Texas required demolition equipment
    May 1, 2018
    A contractor in Texas has used equipment from Brokk to help out with a tricky highway project. Upgrading work has been carried out on a 6.4km-long stretch of I-35 in San Antonio between Loop 410 NE and Loop 410 S. This stretch of the route was carrying around 185,000 vehicles/day and was suffering increasing levels of congestion at peak periods. Travel times lengthened by 65% during rush hour, while ramps on opposite sides of the interstate caused additional congestion and safety issues. In one section, t
  • Douglas Parkes: tunnelling pioneer obituary
    June 30, 2025
    Douglas Parkes, a pioneer of modern tunnelling technology, died recently.