BURLINGTON, ON, Oct. 9, 2012 /CNW/ - This past weekend, after 96 straight hours of work, the City of Burlington's King Road Grade Separation/Underpass project completed a significant milestone: A 2,400 tonne (5 million pound) concrete tunnel was successfully pushed into place under the railway lines.
"This weekend's work was well choreographed to ensure that we could achieve our goal of moving the underpass into place and having the rail lines reconnected in time for the Tuesday morning rush," said Burlington Mayor Rick Goldring. "I am impressed with the efforts of everyone involved in this project. When complete, this project will ensure the safe and fast movement of commuters, freight and vehicles through this part of the city."
The work began on Friday evening after the last commuter train, when crews began to disconnect three of the four railway lines. One line remained open the entire weekend to help move the freight trains. Once the tracks had been removed, excavation of the site began.
Nearly 800 truck loads of fill were removed from beneath the tracks and the surrounding area to make room for the four-sided concrete structure measuring 17 metres (55 feet) wide, 18 metres (59 feet) long and eight metres (26 feet) high. This structure was built on site because of the limited space. There is also no room for a road or rail detours. The limitations of the site meant that a unique, never-before-used process be used to move the tunnel.
A system of hydraulic rams was developed to slowly push the giant concrete structure into place. Once the push started on Sunday afternoon it took about four hours to complete. With the tunnel now in place, crews quickly began to re-grade the area above and around the tunnel in order to help reconnect the rail lines.
"The railway crossing on King Road is one of the busiest in the city with nearly 100 trains crossing a day," said Scott Stewart, general manager of development and infrastructure. "The project time of Thanksgiving weekend was chosen so it would have the least impact on the rail traffic."
Rail passengers traveling through the area used buses to get around the work site. Only freight trains travelled through the site. Crews worked around the clock to ensure the deadline of 5 a.m. on Tuesday morning was met to have the tracks back in place.
With the structure in place the work will begin on building a creek bridge or aqueduct to allow a tributary of Indian Creek to flow over the realigned road on the north side of the railway. When this work is complete King Road will be reconstructed. Traffic is expected to flow along on the new King Road and new underpass later in 2013.
"I know this construction has been difficult for the businesses and residents in the area," said Ward 1 Councillor Rick Craven. "We appreciate their patience and understanding as we move closer to completion of this major infrastructure project in Aldershot."
The B-Roll included with this release contains footage of the construction work that took place over the weekend, the push of the underpass and interviews with the following people:
Mayor Rick Goldring
Ward 1 Councillor Rick Craven
Scott Stewart, General Manager of Development and Infrastructure, City of Burlington
Tom Eichenbaum, Director of Engineering, City of Burlington
Bob Jurk, Senior Project Leader, City of Burlington
Marissa Crawford, Manager of Design and Construction, CN
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DATE OF POSTING: Tuesday October 9th 2012
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Video with caption: "Video: B Roll of Burlington's King Road Underpass Project". Video available at: http://stream1.newswire.ca/cgi-bin/playback.cgi?file=20121009_C5085_VIDEO_EN_19024.mp4&posterurl=http://photos.newswire.ca/images/20121009_C5085_PHOTO_EN_19024.jpg&clientName=CNW%20Broadcast%20Services&caption=Video%3A%20B%20Roll%20of%20Burlington%27s%20King%20Road%20Underpass%20Project&title=CNW%20BROADCAST%20SERVICES%20%2D%20Burlington%27s%202%2C400%20tonne%20%285%20million%20pound%29%20concrete%20King%20Road%20underpass%20is%20successfully%20moved%20into%20place&headline=Burlington%27s%202%2C400%20tonne%20%285%20million%20pound%29%20concrete%20King%20Road%20underpass%20is%20successfully%20moved%20into%20place
Image with caption: "The King Road underpass in place under the railway lines. (CNW Group/CNW Broadcast Services)". Image available at: http://photos.newswire.ca/images/download/20121009_C5085_PHOTO_EN_19023.jpg
SOURCE: CNW Broadcast Services
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