The Trans Canada Highway (16th Avenue North) is a major east-west transportation route through Calgary connecting the provincial and national highway systems. Bowfort Road serves Canada Olympic Park to the south and residential/business districts to the north. The previous intersection was not capable of handling the traffic volumes generated by any large-scale events or the 60,000 vehicles that pass through this area every day.
A major two-year interchange upgrade was undertaken to widen the TCH and create a signal-free access to relieve one of the City’s most significant traffic headaches. AIL’s Precast Panel Walls became part of the solution.
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From the outset, there were three main challenges to this project, but our Precast Panel Walls had all the angles covered:
- Unique Panel Design
A truly unique aesthetic treatment was specified for this major project. - Limited Working Room
TCH traffic needed to remain flowing throughout construction, so the working area was limited. - Cold-Weather Construction
The schedule required that construction continue through harsh winter conditions.
Our partners on this project were Stantec (Consultant), PCL Construction Management (General Contractor), Rino Roadbuilding (Wall Sub-Contractor) and MSE Precast (Panel Manufacturer).
Here’s how it all came together:
- Unique Panel Design
Our supplier, MSE Precast, did an unbelievable job executing the eye-catching beveled panel design that was specified. However, they had to make the pattern conform to hundreds of custom partial panels as well. Also, the uneven panels had to be stacked in an unconventional way before delivery. MSE Precast jumped through hoops to provide a quality product without issues. - Limited Working Room
By design, our MSE Retaining Walls can be assembled on narrow job sites with limited lay-down areas. We also worked with PCL to try and keep our Grid-Strip Soil Reinforcement lengths as short as possible. - Cold-Weather Construction
We designed and used a special winter backfill material that is not susceptible to frost. This allowed PCL and Rino to work through the winter months to maintain the project schedule. Rino is a veteran contractor in MSE walls and their proficiency was a real plus on this challenging project.
