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Burlington’s 2,400 tonne Concrete Underpass moved into place

October 9, 2012  By From Canada Newswire


king_road_underpassOctober 9, 2012, Burlington, ON /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.

king_road_underpassOctober 9, 2012, Burlington, ON /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."

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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 truckloads 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."


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