Residents around Morinville and Cardiff bore witness to a moving day of a different kind last week, as a 157-ton concrete house got a new resting spot.
The house had stood in the way of the planned interchange at Highway 2 and Cardiff Corner and Alberta Transportation purchased the home and the land it was on.
The home made a lumbering move across the highway, down Cardiff road and then north along Range Road 252 to get to its final resting spot.
Supervising that move was Jim McConnell, owner of McConnell Building Movers, who said it was the first time he had ever moved a concrete home like this one and he believes the move is one of the first of its kind in Alberta.
“There is a lot of preplanning in this, we have been working on this since the first of March. You really have to do your homework,” said McConnell
McConnell has been moving homes his entire life as part of the family business, which started with his father in 1947.
While the house lumbered down Cardiff Road, pilot crews went out in advance to direct traffic and Fortis Alberta was on hand to raise several power lines.
As the home approached the lines, Fortis crews raised them up and the 8.9-metre-tall structure slid under. Following behind the house was a shop that was just as tall and almost as large as the massive house.
RCMP officers arrived for the brief closure of the highway. McConnell said the highway crossing was probably the most nerve-racking part of the house’s trip.
“I relaxed once we got across the highway, that was the biggest thing,” he said. “Once we were across there and under the main power line we could relax a little bit.”
The house was jacked up off a concrete foundation and placed on steel beams for the journey. The concrete nature of the home meant the trip had to be relatively smooth so it wouldn’t crack.
“You got to be careful, you can’t jar it or jerk it to keep it smooth.”
John, the homeowner who asked not to have his last name used, said he was a little nervous watching his family’s home move across the highway, but he had confidence in McConnell’s team.
“They look after everything, I just let them do their thing.”
John said he was confident McConnell could move the house. When he saw it up for auction he also realized it was exactly what he and his wife were looking for.
“It was basically exactly what we wanted in a house and there it was.”
While not his primary motivation, John also said it would have been sad to see an otherwise perfect house face the wrecking ball.
“It would be an awful waste to just knock this house down and haul it to the dump.”
The interchange at Cardiff Corner was announced last fall, after several years of the local councillors in both Morinville and Sturgeon raising concerns about the safety of the intersection.
The interchange is designed as a full diamond with an overpass over the highway. The re-aligned Cardiff Road will intersect with the northbound exit from Highway 2, eliminating the current situation where traffic comes off the highway onto Cardiff Road before turning left on to 100 Street.
At the time of the announcement, major construction was to get underway with the project being completed in 2013.
