Membership Happenings

Catch up on TAC member organizations – leaders in the transportation and road-related industries.

Transport Canada launched a statutory review of Canada's transportation legislation on June 25, 2014. The review is being done a year ahead of schedule to address changing conditions and challenges, including transportation of grain on the Prairies.

The review will examine:

• improvements on strategic transportation gateways and corridors;
• Canada's transportation safety and environmental regimes;
• the role of technological innovation in improving transportation services and infrastructure;
• the safe movement of goods through communities;
• support for the northern transportation system;
• federally regulated passenger rail services;
• the vitality of our aviation sector and air connectivity; and
• governance and service delivery for key federal operations, assets, and agencies.

AECOM  announced the completion of tasks associated with the opening of the Calgary Airport Authority’s (YYC) new runway — the longest in Canada — for which AECOM, served as project manager. The authority’s Runway Development Project, a civil effort with a budget of C$620 million established the new, 14,000-foot parallel runway with a Category IIIa Instrument Landing System, a taxiway system that includes high-speed exits, underpass structures, airfield lighting, controls and a new Field Electric Centre. “The robust economy in Alberta has fueled remarkable growth in passenger traffic, and we are pleased to be able to help YYC meet that rising demand,” Loren Smith, AECOM’s Aviation Executive Vice President. 

International Road Dynamics Inc. (IRD) introduced a new sensor technology and traffic data collection solution at the 2014 NATMEC Conference in Chicago and the ITS Europe conference in Helsinki, Finland. The VectorSense™sensor suite provides an in-road tire and vehicle footprint measurement for traffic data collection, commercial vehicle operations, and toll road operations. "The VectorSense sensor suite also provides data that satisfies Mechanistic Empirical Pavement Design Guide (MEPDG) requirements. These data inputs could only be estimated in the past," said Randy Hanson, IRD's Vice President and Chief Operating Officer. "It has the potential to provide formative change to the way transportation agencies monitor roads."

Conestoga‐Rovers & Associates (CRA) and GHD have joined together to create a global leader in engineering, environmental consulting, architecture, and construction services. The combined business will be known as GHD. “This is one of the largest true mergers to have occurred in our industry. We are building on the strengths of two leading companies to create a global team of more than 8,500 people across five continents. We are adding significant growth and scale to our business, while retaining the advantages of our private, employee-ownership business model for creating client value,” says Ian Shepherd, Chief Executive Officer of GHD.