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Three construction teams working on bids for first phase of $5.5B Calgary Green Line
A shortlist consisting of a half dozen major contractors are preparing bids for Segment 1 of Calgary’s new Green Line.
The city shortlisted three construction teams and issued a request for proposals for the first phase of work on the approximately 20-kilometre light rail project in late July. The call for bids followed a month-long request for qualifications period.
City council sanctioned the P3 project in mid-June. The cost estimate for the transit line totals $5.5 billion, which includes $4.9 billion for construction and $640 million in financing costs to the city.
The three consortia preparing bids for Segment 1 of the project are made up of some of the largest domestic contractors, as well as several international firms. Graham-PCL Transit Partners, CityLink Partners and urbanTRANSIT will work through the competitive bidding process over the next year or so. Calgary anticipates picking a winning bidder for the design-build-finance contract next summer, with construction starting in late 2021.
Segment 1 of the new rail line runs from Shepard Station (126 Avenue S.E.) at the south end of Calgary, to the Elbow River, just east of downtown. It will run mostly at-grade and include nine stations. An approximately one kilometre section of elevated track is planned between Inglewood/Ramsay to 26 Avenue stations.
The following phases, Segment 2A and 2B, will take the rail line underground through downtown and back above ground north of the Bow River. Construction is scheduled to start in 2022 and 2024, respectively.
Work on all three stages of the project is expected to create more than 20,000 direct and indirect jobs. The city describes the LRT as the largest job creation project
A map of the planned light rail route.
in Calgary, noting more than 100 enabling works are already complete or underway.
Once complete, approximately 65,000 Calgarians are expected to use the transit line each day. Planners also forecast 30,000 tons saved in greenhouse has emissions each year as a result of the line.
Future expansions for the $5.5 billion LRT project are already in the works. Eventually city planners expect the Green Line to run 46 kilometres, with later phases of work stretching the line to the north and southeast.
Stage 1 of the Green Line, encompassing segments 1, 2A and 2B, is scheduled to open in 2027.
LEAD TEAM MEMBERS
Graham-PCL Transit Partners Graham and PCL Construction
CityLink Partners Aecon and Dragados
urbanTRANSIT Salini Impregilo and Hitachi Rail STS
PCL, Overland to start construction on $1.5B Cascade gas plant west of Edmonton
Following a positive investment decision from the project’s developers, PCL Construction and Overland Contracting Canada have a green light to start construction on a major new natural gas generating station in Edson, Alta.
Alberta-based Kineticor Resource Corp., along with a range of backers – Macquarie Capital, OPTrust, Axium Infrastructure and DIF Capital Partners – signed off on the $1.5 billion Cascade Power Project Aug. 27.
Construction is expected to start immediately, at a 52-hectare site on crown land, roughly midway between Edmonton and Jasper.
The combined cycle natural gas-fired generating facility will have capacity to produce 900 megawatts of power. Kineticor said the plant will support Alberta’s shift away from coal power, generating low Construction is set to start this fall in Halifax on one component of Nova Scotia’s QEII New Generation Project.
The province’s Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure Renewal said Aug. 21 it has awarded the contract for a new
The new natural gas plant in Edson, Alta. will have capacity to generate 900 MW of electricity
emissions electricity to meet about eight per cent of the province’s power demands.
“With Alberta contributing over 50 percent of Canada’s greenhouse gas emissions from electricity generation, Cascade is expected to result in one of the largest emissions reduction opportunities in the country’s electricity sector,” the company said in a release.
The plant will rely on two SCC6- 8000H high efficiency gas turbines from industrial manufacturer Siemens Energy.
BPC, a construction consortium made up of affiliates of PCL and Overland, itself outpatient centre on the outskirts of the city to a construction team led by EllisDon.
The contractor and its design partners – Parkin Architects and Fowler Bauld & Mitchell – will be responsible for the design, build, finance and maintain work, subsidiary of U.S.-based Black & Veatch Co., is responsible for delivering the generating station under an engineering, procurement and construction services contract. Kineticor said experience on the two teams of contractors created a “winning combination” for the developers.
The project is expected to require about three million work hours, translating to approximately 600 jobs, at peak.
Work on the new gas plant is scheduled to take about three years, with the facility sending its first power to Alberta’s
EllisDon wins contract to build new $259.4M outpatient centre in Halifax
grid in 2023.
which is scheduled to get underway this fall.
The Community Outpatient Centre in Bayers Lake will let patients avoid driving into downtown Halifax for services that do not require hospitalization, such as x-rays, blood work and post-surgery follow-ups. Plans for the site include 17 exam rooms, 24 dialysis stations, as well as areas dedicated to diagnostic imaging.
The new facility is one part of the province’s major hospital renewal initiative, expected to cost approximately $2 billion.
The contract award follows more than a year of procurement. Nova Scotia issued a request for proposals to three bid teams in May 2019.
Construction on the outpatient centre in Bayers Lake is expected to take three years, while work on the wider hospital renewal project in downtown Halifax will run well into the 2020s.
Vinci, Pomerleau to tackle $1.1B rehab of Montreal’s Louis Hippolyte Lafontaine Tunnel
Work is scheduled to start next year on the rehabilitation of a busy 1.5-kilometre highway tunnel under the St. Lawrence River at the northeast end of Montreal.
After years of planning, the Quebec Ministry of Transportation awarded a $1.1 billion contract for the Louis-Hippolyte-La Fontaine Tunnel rehabilitation project in late July.
The Renouveau La Fontaine consortium, composed of Eurovia, Dodin Campenon Bernard and Pomerleau Inc., is expected to start work on the project early next year. Eurovia, which is leading the construction team, and Dodin Campenon Bernard are both subsidiaries of France-based infrastructure giant Vinci. Quebec’s Pomerleau holds a 50 per cent stake in the design-build-finance project.
The LH Lafontaine Tunnel opened in 1967 and runs between Montreal and Longueuil on the eastern side of the St. Lawrence. It is the longest tunnel running underwater in the country and carries approximately 120,000 vehicles per day.
The scope of work covers major retrofits to the tunnel itself, the widening of Autoroute 20 and repaving about 25 kilometres of highways 20 and 25, which intersect on the Longueuil side of the river.
The build team will be required to keep the tunnel open to traffic during the four-year construction period. The Quebec Ministry of Transportation said repairs to various tunnel components, such as the concrete screed, walls, vault, joints and drainage, are included in the project. Along with repairs to the structure, Vinci said the work covers the installation of new fire protection facings, as well as modern electrical, ventilation and electromechanical systems.
The provincial and federal government will share some of the costs for
PHOTO: VINCI
A rendering of the rehabilitated entrance to the tunnel on Charron Island.
the project, with Ottawa committing $427.7 million to the retrofits.
Rehabilitation work on the more than 50-year-old highway tunnel is scheduled to start early next year and run until summer 2025.
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Ontario plots preferred route for major new highway through Toronto area
In latest delay, construction at Toronto’s Union Station to drag on until at least end of 2020
The Union Station Revitalization Project may soon enter its second decade.
After about 10 years of ongoing construction, work at the rail hub in downtown Toronto faces yet another delay, according to a staff report released Sept. 4. The report blames earlier performance issues with the general contractor and slowdowns tied COVID-19 for the latest timeline adjustment.
Early construction on the station began in 2010, with major works getting underway in 2011. The facelift was originally scheduled to be complete by 2015, but the complicated revamp of the nearly century-old station has dragged well beyond schedule and jumped over its original budget. During a media tour last year, the city said it was now targeting September 2020 to complete the project.
That report last month adjusts the timeline for substantial completion until the end of 2020 and forecasts additional capital costs for 2021.
“Staff are working with the City’s consultant, contractor, its bonding company, and other stakeholders to complete the work as quickly and efficiently as possible,” the report notes.
Among other challenges, the city said the reduced availability of trades staff and physical distancing rules during the pandemic have slowed progress on Union’s Bay Concourse, the main portion of the job remaining.
Despite the delay, the most-recent budget estimate for construction costs at the station remains intact. The city expects to spend a total of $824 million on the work, shifting $18.4 million originally slated for 2020 to 2021. Ontario has mapped out a preliminary route for a major new highway A map of the new greenfield highway northwest of Toronto. through the north end of the Greater Toronto Area.
Revived last year after being scrapped by the previous government, the greenfield highway would run southwest from Hwy. 400 in Vaughan, through Bolton, Caledon and Brampton, before turning south and terminating at the junction of Hwy. 401 and Hwy. 407, at the westernmost tip of Mississauga.
Any construction on the project remains several years away, but early plans for the route include up to six lanes, integrated transit with stations for passengers and truck parking.
“The Greater Golden Horseshoe is an economic driver for the province and addressing transportation needs in this region is essential to the competitiveness of our economy,” Caroline Mulroney, Ontario’s minister of Transportation, said in a release. “The GTA West Corridor will help alleviate traffic congestion and improve the movement of people and goods across the province.”
The preferred route for the new 400-series highway released Aug. 7 integrates feedback from public consultations, as well as land use and environmental information. The former Liberal government halted the planning process for the highway in 2018 after an expert panel advised alternative options would deliver “comparable” benefits without occupying the valuable lands northwest of Toronto.
The Ministry of Transportation said the full environmental assessment for the major road project will take until the end of 2022.
$198.6M project to repair aging Pie-IX bridge starts in Montreal
A major bridge repair project is underway on the north end of Montreal.
After early works were completed in August, Transport Quebec announced Sept. 1 that crews have started on the first of three phases of repairs on the Pie-IX bridge.
The bridge, which was built in two segments, completed in 1967 and 1971, carries Hwy. 125 over the Prairies River. It links Laval with Montreal-Nord and is used by about 56,000 vehicles daily.
After half a century, the province said the bridge’s concrete slabs have reached the end of their useful life. Pie-XI’s steel beams will also be replaced for falling short of current standards. Along with the major series of repairs, the project includes construction of a new dedicated bus lane.
Costs for the project total $198.6 million, with roughly $78.9 from Ottawa.
Construction on the project will take place in three stages over the next three years. The rebuilt six-lane bridge is expected to fully reopen by September 2023.
A rendering of the new library, which is a joint municipal-federal project.
Construction starts on new $1.3B Côté Gold project in Northern Ontario
Shovels are in the ground on a major new mining project outside of Gogoma in Northern Ontario.
Officials from mining firm Iamgold Corp. hosted Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Ontario Premier Doug Ford, among others, this September to inaugurate the $1.3 billion site.
The Côté Gold Project, located about 200 kilometres northwest of Sudbury, has spent years under review. Toronto-based Iamgold and its joint venture partner Sumitomo Metal Mining Co. elected to proceed with construction on the project this June.
Construction of the open pit mine is expected to create approximately 1,000 jobs over the next three years. Once open, about 450 full-time workers will be employed at the mine over its expected 18-year life span.
Scotland-headquartered Wood plc is taking on the EPCM (engineering, procurement and construction management) role for the project, Iamgold said. Early construction at the site is already underway, with major earthworks expected next year. The facility is scheduled to open in late 2023.
A groundbreaking ceremony was held at the Northern Ontario site Sept. 11.
Three contractors shortlisted for $192.9M Ottawa library project
The city of Ottawa has narrowed the field of bidders for a new library a few blocks from Parliament Hill to three contractors.
EllisDon, PCL and Pomerleau have been shortlisted for the $192.9 million facility, which will be shared by the Ottawa Public Library and Library and Archives Canada.
While the final contract is not expected to be awarded until early next year, crews will get to work this fall on certain early works, such as shoring, excavation and site remediation.
Construction is scheduled to begin in earnest at 555 Albert Street next summer. The winning contractor will be aiming to hand over the completed federal-municipal library in 2024.
20_1795_OnSite_OCT_CN Mod: August 20, 2020 3:21 PM Print: 09/15/20 11:17:53 AM page 1 v7
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