North Courtenay Connector
2016-2017 | Courtenay, BC
The BC Ministry of Transportation & Infrastructure wanted to improve the link between the Comox Valley and the Island Highway on Vancouver Island, with wider paved shoulders and a multi-use pathway, to improve safety for pedestrians, equestrians, and cyclists.
This $9.5M project involved 700m of new road alignment as well as a new, two-lane, 58m bridge replacing a single lane bridge across the Tsolum River. The design featured multiple large Structural Plate Corrugated Steel Pipe (SPCSP) arches, as well as flood relief structures, green culvert headwalls, recontouring, and riparian planting to restore historic flood patterns.
The replacement bridge is a single-span along the existing highway alignment. The bridge consists of steel plate I-girders supporting a cast-in-place concrete deck, and the superstructure is simply-supported on steel pipe-piled concrete abutments.
McElhanney’s scope included:
- Topographic and legal survey
- Road drainage design
- Facilitation of hydrotechnical design
- Utility relocation plans
- Geometrics and laning design
- Signing and pavement markings
- Property acquisition plans
- Bridge abutments design including foundations and bridge superstructure
- Retaining walls design
- Tender package preparation
- Engineering services during construction
- Environmental desktop literature review
- Fisheries habitat assessment
- Obtaining approvals for bridge decommissioning and installation at a new location
McElhanney met the expedited timelines for this project by designing flood structures early, helping the Ministry pre-purchase material to avoid delays from long lead times, and designing early works and flood relief measures for pre-load construction by day labour.
