• Home
  • AIL value engineers Polymer‐Coated Super-Cor Arch and MSE Wall package for NSTIR’s railway tunnel project at Windsor, NS

AIL value engineers Polymer‐Coated Super-Cor Arch and MSE Wall package for NSTIR’s railway tunnel project at Windsor, NS

VALUE ENGINEERING CASE STUDY

AIL is proud to have another Super-Cor and MSE Panel Wall project completed in Nova Scotia. In this case, we were able to support the contractor, Dexter Construction, early on in their design‐build proposal with an innovative and economical packaged solution to carry forward to the Nova Scotia Department of Transportation and Infrastructure Renewal (NSTIR).

Railway overpass featured two‐stage construction, skewed design, innovative footings
This highway twinning rail tunnel project required a two‐stage construction sequence, with the structure for the new west‐bound lanes being built first with a temporary MSE Wire Wall on the median side. Once this crossing was complete and opened to two‐way traffic, the old three-span concrete bridge could be demolished in preparation for the new and re‐aligned east‐bound roadway to be constructed adjacent to the west‐bound.

VIDEO: Take a 360° video tour through the different phases of this project >>

The skewed alignment of Highway 101 to the railway tunnel was 50 degrees, which posed a particular challenge in developing the temporary MSE wall configuration that would support the new west‐bound lanes, but not undermine the existing live east‐bound lanes of Highway 101.

Aerial view of two-stage Super•Cor rail tunnel
Phase Two: Plate assembly nearing completion, backfilling underway

AIL engaged the services of Harbourside Geotechnical Consultants to analyze the cut slopes and propose a construction sequence that would mitigate the risks of slope failure and approve the underlying foundation capacity to support the applied loads of the MSE Walls and the Super-Cor Arch footings.

Phase Two of the project started mid July 2020 when the Highway 101 detour opened over the Phase One tunnel section. At the same time, the existing highway was closed to traffic, the existing steel girder bridge was demolished/removed and the site was excavated in order to prepare the foundation and install the concrete footings.

The tunnel assembly of Phase Two began in early September 2020 and took three weeks to complete, with another four weeks to assemble the MSE Precast Panel Headwalls and Wingwalls. Dexter considered our contract substantially completed by November 30 and all project partners are pleased with AIL’s engineering and supply services. Final grading and paving is being completed under a separate contract called in the spring of 2021.

Aerial view of completed two-stage Super•Cor rail tunnel
Phase Two: Structure completed, awaiting final grading and paving

Over the past few years, NSTIR has seen the benefits of including AIL’s packaged solutions of buried metal arches and MSE Walls in their tender callings on Highways 103 and 107, and with recent projects that have been completed at Kieley Brook/Ingramport and East River Bridge near Chester.

RELATED PROJECTS

  • Another of our two-stage Super-Cor / MSE Wall solutions chosen for an NSTIR twinning project

    As part of the twinning of busy Highway 103 on Nova Scotia’s South Shore, a new access road and underpass structure was required for local residents to reach Vinegar Lake and other areas north of the highway near Hubbards.

  • AIL’s Super-Cor with MSE Precast Panel Walls selected for more NSTIR 100 Series highway crossings

    An AIL Super-Cor Arch, complete with Best-Kote Polymer Coating and MSE Precast Panel headwalls, is now taking shape for Nova Scotia Transportation and Infrastructure Renewal (NSTIR) along the Highway 107 extension project, also known as the Sackville-Bedford-Burnside Connector. This buried metal bridge for a grade separation at Pewter Lane joins a stream crossing at Wright’s Brook on the same nine-km, four-lane expressway project.

  • AIL and Algonquin Bridge team up on NSTIR’s East River Bridge replacement project

    Nova Scotia Transportation and Infrastructure Renewal needed to replace an older wooden span bridge at East River on Highway 3, near Chester. AIL designed and supplied a Super•Cor Arch with Best•Kote Polymer Coating and our MSE Precast Panel Walls for the headwalls. AIL Group sister company, Algonquin Bridge, supplied a rental Modular Panel Bridge as a detour bridge for the project duration.

  • Custom Super-Cor Box Culvert bumps concrete alternative and saves Ontario town 20%

    The Town of Essex, Ontario, originally tendered this replacement project a year earlier, specified as a concrete box. However, the project did not make it past Town Council due to its cost. AIL was subsequently contacted by the Town’s consulting engineer to see what we could offer as an alternative. We had an initial meeting and quickly came back with a custom geometry that met their unique hydraulic capacity and height of cover requirements.

  • Value Engineered Super-Cor solution sways NSTIR off concrete spec

    Nova Scotia Transportation and Infrastructure Renewal (NSTIR) had specified a concrete structure for a stream crossing on the new exit connector joining Highway 103 with Highway 3, at Ingramport, near Halifax. Knowing that our Super•Cor Arch would perform just as well and provide considerable savings, the AIL team went to work to prove their point.

The AIL Group of Companies