15 Dec Prince of Wales Culvert Replacement Project Update – December 2015
I would like to share with you the following project status update for the Prince of Wales Culvert received from city officials. Some significant progress been made since their last progress report on Oct 30.
- Cycle safety improvement measures at the intersection of POW Drive and Fisher Ave are now completed, with the exception of line painting and signs, which they hope to install within the next few weeks, weather permitting.
- The new culvert (which was installed by tunneling) is now completed and work is underway to install the large headwall structures at either end of the new culvert.
- Half of the concrete headwall and slab have been cast in place at the upstream (west) end of the culvert.
- The temporary creek bypass system has been installed in order to create a dry working environment inside the existing, badly deteriorated, culvert structure. Once the temporary flow bypass is operational, a new concrete pipe will be placed inside the existing culvert structure to create the final twin-pipe configuration. The new concrete pipe will be installed inside the existing culvert by the end of January 2016.
- Currently, the focus of the construction work is on the downstream (east) side, where a large sheet piled cofferdam (in-river shaft) is being constructed, inside which the concrete headwall structure will be built in Jan / Feb 2016. This temporary cofferdam shaft is a major piece of engineering in itself with metal sheeting driven 50 feet into the ground and three vertical rows of angled cable tie-backs (80 feet long) drilled into bedrock. Once the shaft is completed – early January – a grid pattern of 25 vertical piles will be driven in order to support the permanent outfall headwall structure.
Here is a selection of recent photos:
From top:
- Drilling tie-backs in the downstream (east) cofferdam
- Concrete placement for the upstream (west) headwall slab
- Forming the upstream (west) headwall slab