AS part of the new partnership with the tunnelling association of Canada (taC), Tunnels will print the reports of the taC regional directors as part of the Canadian regional Focus. andre rancourt has prepared the Quebec and Maritimes report, Brian Garrod for the Ontario report, Heinrich Heinz for alberta and the prairies and Bruce Downing for British Columbia.

Ontario

The tunnelling industry in the Greater Toronto Area is very busy with several large projects under construction. The largest of these is the Spadina Subway Extension where two tunnelling contracts totalling about CAD 700M (USD 718M) are underway. Two TBM drives are underway on both of the two contracts with the first two breakthroughs already in the bag on the south contract. The TBMs have been relocated and are being made ready for relaunch. On the north contract the TBMs are proceeding through an instrumented test section prior to tunnelling under the Schulich Building, the CAD 150M (USD 193M) agship building on the university campus. Work is underway on the 15km long Southeast Collector Project, an approximately CAD 300M (USD 386.7M) contract, with the launch of the first TBMs in June/July.

When in full swing, these two projects will have eight EPMs in operation concurrently.

Further transit expansion projects in Toronto, include the Eglinton Scarborough Crosstown Light Rail project that will have up to 22km of EPBM tunnels. Four more TBMs are presently under manufacture for this project, with the first two expected for delivery in early 2013 for use on the initial tunnelling contract that has just been tendered with the low bidder, at CAD 283M (USD 288M) before tax, being a joint venture of Obayashi/Kenaidan/ Kenny. The advance launch shaft contract is under construction with expected completion in December.

The pedestrian tunnel to the Toronto Island Airport is now beginning construction after completion of the P3 procurement process. The tunnel is set to be excavated in the second half of 2012 and the first half of 2013.

Several signifi¬cant watermain and sewer tunnels are also either recently completed or under construction including the Coxwell Bypass Sewer where live sewer connections are underway and the Strachan Storm Water Syphon tunnel where tunnel construction has recently been completed. Many other municipal tunnels are also under design including the 7km long Mid-Halton effluent sewer and outfall.

Elsewhere in the province, the City of Ottawa has selected the short list of proponents for a P3 procurement for the Light Rail Project, a CAD 2bn (USD 2bn) project with 6km of tunnels and four underground stations. In Windsor, the environmental assessment for the Detroit River Rail Tunnel project is nearing completion. In Niagara Falls, the Niagara Tunnel is into tunnel lining installation with an expected completion in 2013.

Brian Garrod
Hatch Mott MacDonald

Alberta and Prairies

Current ongoing projects include Edmonton’s 3.3km Light Rail Transit Downtown to NAIT extension, with completion expected in 2013. Most of the alignment is at road level, but the connection between the Churchill Station and the future MacEwan Station includes a 440m long section with twin SEM tunnels excavated in dense glacial deposits. At the time of writing, tunneling contractor Flatiron-Hochtief had completed over 300m of the northbound tunnel, with the southbound following 30m behind.

Elsewhere in Edmonton, the City’s Drainage Services Division has completed about 250m of the W13 tunnel, a 1,000m long, 2.4m ID up to 30m deep tunnel in clay till and sand, using a Lovat M100 TBM. Contractor Michels Canada is working on the W14 tunnel, a 2,300m long, 1.2m id, 4m to 10m deep tunnel in relatively soft clays and silts with a water table near surface, using slurry microtunnelling machines: an Akkerman SL52 MTBM and an SL60 MTBM for a section under a major road. Both tunnels are part of the West Edmonton Sanitary Sewer (WESS) system, which will provide servicing to areas on the western edge of the City. At the time of writing, six out of 11 shafts and 20 to 30 per cent of the tunnel had been completed.

The City of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, has recently awarded a contract for the McOrmond Drive Sanitary and Storm Sewer Trunks project, which includes two 1,500m long tunnels in glacial soils. The sanitary sewer is a 1,200mm ID tunnel, and is being constructed using a 2.6m diameter Lovat EPBM. The storm sewer is a 2,400m id tunnel, and the machine is a 3.3m Lovat EPBM. Both tunnels were designed with a two-pass system with initial liner consisting of steel ribs and wooden lagging, and centrifugally cast fiberglass reinforced polymer mortar (CCFRPM) final liner. The design-build contractor is Michels Canada, and about 60 per cent of the project had been completed as Tunnels goes to press.

Projects recently completed in Calgary include the Beddington South Sanitary tunnels and two tunnels, which are part of the City of Calgary’s Nose Creek Sanitary Trunk Upgrade. Details of construction of the 2.6m diameter, 300m long 16th Avenue tunnel crossing in bedrock and of the 3.2m diameter, 170m long Memorial Drive tunnel through an embankment fill and under settlement-sensitive LRT tracks will be reported at the October TAC conference in Montreal. The tunnelling contractor for both projects was the City of Edmonton Drainage Services Division.

Upcoming highlights include Edmonton’s southeast to west LRT Extension, which will include twin 350m tunnels in the eastern downtown area; it is in preliminary design. In Calgary, Irish contractor Ward & Burke Microtunnelling will be installing approximately 400 lineal meters of 1,200mm id pre-cast concrete tunnel in saturated silts and sands in the City’s southeast using a Herrenknecht AVN1200 machine; the first use of a slurry MTBM in the City.

Heinrich K. Heinz
Thurber Engineering