July 29, 2018
Halton Hills is a regional township in the northwestern corner of the Greater Toronto Area (GTA), with Georgetown and Acton as its larger centres. Just north of Georgetown, the Terra Cotta Conservation Area was in dire need of a new trail crossing over Muskrat Pond to be in place before their maple sugar festival started.
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The project team chose an AIL Super-Cor Box Culvert solution with our MSE Wire Wall headwalls. However, at the time of construction, the contractor discovered that the bedrock elevation was actually 2 m higher than what was shown on the geotechnical borehole information. We quickly collaborated with the consultant to come up with the best solution.
Tight deadline met despite bedrock level change
Despite the higher bedrock setback, our prompt collaboration with the consultant and revisions to raise the profile of the structure and reduce the cover depth, allowed us to still meet the already-tight deadline to be open before the festival. Plus, the project still stayed on budget.
Our MSE Wire Walls, with local cobblestone at the face, matched the site perfectly, while the locally sourced stained picket railings provided a nice accent to the trail crossing. Post-project feedback saw all parties pleased with the outcome and AIL has new GTA opportunities in development with both the contractor and the consultant.
Municipalities like resilient and sustainable buried bridges
Increasingly, Canadian cities and towns are recognizing the inherent benefits of our buried bridges:
- Typically 33% to 67% lower installed costs than traditional span bridges
- Safer driver experiences with no expansion joints and reduced risk of differential freezing between approaches and crossing
- Less maintenance as structural elements are buried rather than being exposed
- Shorter construction-related road closures/detours
Urbanscapes that escape the ordinary
Plus, today’s buried bridges offer the design innovations that urban planners and landscape architects are looking for, like: green walls, bevelled-end collars, a wide variety of headwall treatments, performance coatings and architectural colour and lighting in their interiors. Visit ailurban.com to see the full range of AIL buried bridges in urbanscapes that escape the ordinary.
