Russell’s arches get modern replacements

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This article was published 04/12/2018 (2477 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The landmark arches that spanned Russell’s Main Street are being replaced, and a Brandon company is using the chance to update the structures’ design to ensure they stand the test of time.

In June 2016, one of the wooden arches came crashing down, after which the other seven were taken down as a safety precaution. They are going back up again this week, but with a more modern look.

Samson Engineering president Phil Dorn said his company designed the new arches, which will be made out of steel instead of wood. They will rust and become a brown colour, but will remain much stronger than the former wooden ones.

“They’re similar to what they were in the sense that they’re a cross-arch, but they’re updated — a little bit larger,” he said.

The original wooden arches were made in Russell and installed as supports at a hockey arena in Dauphin.

When the arena was demolished, the arches found their way back home and were installed over Russell’s Main Street in 2007.

Dorn said they took the heritage of the community into consideration when designing the new arches, which will hopefully last for 100 years.

“When you think about Russell you think about maybe the ski hill and you think about the rolling hills … you think about the waving wheat, you also think about the lake waves, and so we wanted to enhance that image of the community.”

Marcia Rowat, community development officer for the Municipality of Russell-Binscarth, said the town is hopeful that the new arches will bring the same ambiance to Main Street and a new open-air museum at the bottom of each arch will help educate people about the town’s history.

“I think that they were a feature that made us unique. They did serve to draw people to our community and Main Street; they did set us apart from other rural communities, and that’s kind of what we’re hoping will be the result of the new arches.”

She said there will be aluminum panels at the bottom of each arch telling different stories from the region and the story of the old arches. There are five themes for the panels, which are community history, innovators and local heroes, agriculture, tourism and natural surroundings, and cultural diversity. The new steel arches will also have lights installed on them so they can be illuminated at night.

“I think it’s important to be set apart from everyone else,” Rowat said. “I think it helps to put Russell on the map and the more that your community is heard, it just helps to promote the image and the quality of life of the community.”

Joan Perez, an engineer from the Dominican Republic working on the project, said the arches combine a variety of building codes and being built over a highway was a major consideration.

He said cars passing underneath can create high winds on the arches, so they have to be able to sway slightly to compensate. They are also so big that each arch has to be shipped in four parts from Hamilton, Ont., creating potential weak points at parts’ junction. To compensate, hidden bolts were used to make them strong enough while also preserving the aesthetic.

“It’s an iconic urban structure for (Russell), so being part of that is really something that makes you feel proud of it, I will say. So that’s why here we decided to do it with the most advanced structural engineering techniques.”

» dmay@brandonsun.com

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