February 21, 2020
Project required the complete shutdown of the four-lane Trans Canada Highway
This high-profile culvert replacement project required the complete shutdown of the four-lane Trans Canada Highway just outside of St. John’s by the Avondale Interchange. The project was held to a tight timeline of excavating and removing the existing culverts, installing and backfilling the new AIL Bolt-A-Plate culvert and re-opening the highway, all in one extended four-day weekend. The excavation started on Friday evening and traffic was flowing back over the culvert again by Tuesday morning.
Optional coating extends service life to over 75 years
Due to the aggressive soil conditions at this site, the new culvert was specified with Best•Kote Polymer Coating on the bottom half of the round culvert to protect against corrosion, abrasion and inorganic acid, salts or alkali (diluted).
83 m culvert pre-assembled in four sections
The tight construction schedule meant this culvert could not be assembled in place, after excavation was completed and bedding prepared. Nor, because of the length of the pipe, could it be transported in one piece. So the pipe had to be pre-assembled in four sections at an adjacent laydown area in order to be ready for the weekend project when the sections were moved to the prepared site and spliced together.
AIL worked very closely with the contractor’s project management team and provided technical support from start to finish. We supplied them with weekly updates and collaborated closely with them by providing on-site assistance for the assembly and installation of the Bolt-A-Plate culvert.
Our 4.3 m round culvert replaced two smaller (2.7 and 3.0 m) culverts that had deteriorated in the aggressive soil conditions. The new culvert increased the total end area by 13% for the improved hydraulic flow capacity the client had requested.
