Background

The Ontario Ministry of Transportation retained TBT Engineering Limited to provide Total Project Management (TPM) and Construction Contract Administration (CCA) for grading, granular base, drainage, hot mix paving, electrical and structural works on Highway 11/17, from 1.0 km west of the Hodder Avenue/Copenhagen Road intersection easterly for 6.0 km. This work was needed to provide a four-lane divided highway between Hodder Avenue and 0.8 km east of Highway 527.

Unique Construction Features

The project also involved a unique feature known as a partial cloverleaf (parclo) – an interchange that included looped deceleration and acceleration ramps. This unique structure – the first of its kind in Northwestern Ontario – included ramps on two of its four quadrants and allowed for drivers to safely merge onto the highway from Hodder Avenue and Coppenhagen Road. That part of the highway currently sees more than 7,000 vehicles per day and could no longer operate safely as an at-grade intersection due to the rugged topography of the area, the proximity to the Current River, as well as the horizontal and vertical curvature of the highway. This project, valued at $42 million, also included a new entrance at the Terry Fox Scenic Lookout as well as widening of the eastbound bridge over the Current River.

Construction Contract Administration

Over the course of this 3 year project, TBT Engineering supervised and inspected all construction and related progress associated with the following activities:

• 692,000 m3 of Earth Excavation
• 378,000 m3 of Rock Excavation
• 296,000 m3 of Rock Embankment
• 289,000 tonnes of Granular B processing and placement
• 95,000 tonnes of Granular A processing and placement
• 23,200 tonnes of SuperPave (12.5)
• 30,700 tonnes of SuperPave (19.0)
• Relocation of City Watermain & Sanitary Sewer
• 1000 metres of Pipe Culvert
• 100 metres of Concrete Box Culvert
• 2,456 metres of Flex Electrical Duct with associated cable for lighting
• 1,492 metres of Rigid Electrical Duct with associated cable for lighting
• All structural work at Current River Bridge and Hodder Avenue/Copenhagen Road intersection

The 6 km highway twinning, together with the parclo superstructure, constitutes the first phase of the four-laning of the Trans Canada Highway (11/17) between Thunder Bay and Nipigon – a 100-kilimetre long twinning of the vital North Shore highway.