The canadian tunnelling industry has never been stronger, both in terms of active tunnelling projects (from coast to coast to coast) and expertise Canada provides on international projects.
A call for infrastructure renewal from our recently-elected government is being backed with an additional CAD 60bn over 10 years, and a plan to stimulate economic growth during a period of depressed oil and mineral prices through infrastructure spending. This is on top of several mega-projects already underway, such as the CAD 9.1bn (USD 6.99bn) Eglington Crosstown LRT, currently Canada’s largest infrastructure project. The Crosstown represents a continuation of transit expansion plans in Toronto, Canada’s largest city. The 19km rapid transit corridor includes the construction of up to 25 stations and a 10km tunnel portion being driven by two Caterpillar EPBMs. (The Caterpillar EPB machines are drawn from their acquisition of the Canadian TBM manufacturer, Lovat, who grew to be a global leader in the design and manufacturing of EPB machines).
Completion of the project is scheduled for 2021. The Crosstown follows on Toronto’s recent completion of the twin tunnels for the Toronto-York Spadina Subway Extension, which included 6.7km of tunnels also driven by Caterpillar/Lovat EPBMs. This project received the 2015 TAC Infrastructure Project of the Year award, and included Canada’s _ rst use of RFID chips installed within each precast concrete tunnel lining segment used for quality control and future inspection and quality management. Other notable infrastructure projects include: 2.5km of tunnel in the nation’s capital on the 12.5km Ottawa Light Rail Transit line; 2km of tunnel on the 11km Evergreen line, an extension of Vancouver’s rapid transit system; and completion of the 1km Port Mann water supply tunnel under the Fraser River, one of several such projects planned by Metro Vancouver to contend with the region’s earthquake hazard.
Canada’s extensive and rugged geography is also host to a range of energy and mining projects, with hydroelectric leading the way in terms of hard rock tunnelling projects. The Upper Lillooet HEF north of Whistler in British Columbia is an 81.4MW plant including construction of a 2.5km tunnel. This project is coupled with another 2.9km tunnel for the 25.3MW Boulder Creek HEF, and the same owner, Innergex Renewable Energy, is also constructing the 40.6 MW Big Silver HEF, which will include a 1.8km tunnel.
BC Hydro is also busy, building a 2.1km power tunnel for its replacement of the John Hart Generating Station; and planning is underway for tunnels and underground construction required for the CAD 8.8bn (USD 6.76bn), 1,100MW Site C dam project on the Peace River in the northeast of British Columbia. This is comparable to the CAD 6.5bn (USD 4.99bn), 1,550MW Romaine 1, 2 and 3 hydroelectric developments by Hydro-Québec, which likewise includes multiple bypass and pressure tunnels. In some of Canada’s most remote northern locations, mining projects continue to drive tunnelling activity, including projects like the CAD 4bn (USD 3.07bn) Mary River Iron Ore project in Nunavut, one of the most isolated mining sites in the world. Options to move the ore to market include what would be the most northerly rail line in the world, which would include several short tunnels requiring insulated liners to make sure waste heat from the trains does not melt the surrounding permafrost.
Truly, Canada’s tunnelling experience extends from coast to coast to coast, with extensive expertise honed through the large number of tunnels that have been completed in a variety of challenging geological settings, in major cities and remote locations, from EPB in glacial soils to hard rock tunnelling in the high stress environments of the Canadian Shield. Both of these are areas where Canada has positioned itself as an international leader. The latter is also where Canadian research, related to the design of deep nuclear waste repositories conducted at the AECL Underground Research Laboratory has led to step change in understanding and the design of support systems to safely manage spalling and rockburst conditions for the next generation of deep hard rock tunnels.
The primary mandate of TAC is to share and promote the expertise of the Canadian tunnelling industry. This includes the organisation of specialty workshops like the recently held "Challenges and Innovations in Tunnelling" workshop at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario, which was a tremendous success thanks to the efforts of the Ontario TAC Chapter and Queen’s organizers, attracting more than 135 participants and including a tour of the Brockville Tunnel, Canada’s first tunnel. The efforts of the Queen’s students for this event was especially noteworthy and represents one of the examples of how TAC has focused on engaging students and Young Members. TAC’s active participation in and support of the ITA’s Young Members group, includes the launch of a Canadian Young Members division and a membership drive that has more than doubled the number of TAC student and young professional members. TAC will continue to emphasise the importance of our young members and their contributing role in the success of the projects being delivered by the Canadian tunneling industry in our upcoming biannual conference planned for October 16-18 in Ottawa with the theme "Capitalizing on Underground Infrastructure". More than 250 participants and 25 exhibitors are expected.
Our annual scholarship program, started in 2010, is continuing to prove a success, and our annual TAC Awards Dinner is showcasing Canada’s amazing depth of projects such as the Mayo B Hydro project in the sub-arctic Yukon, the 2015 winner of the TAC Innovative Project of the Year, and the previously cited Toronto-York Spadina project, the 2015 winner of the Infrastructure Project of the Year. Also, honoured was Brian Garrod of Hatch Mott MacDonald recognizing his more than 34 years of achievements and contributions in the underground construction industry, and Josephine Morgenroth, a Master’s student at the University of British Columbia Okanagan, the 2015 recipient of the Dan Eisenstein Memorial Scholarship.
It is through these honourees, and the amazing projects they and their colleagues are designing and building, that it is clear that the strength of the Canadian tunnelling industry is continuing to grow and prosper.
