The 2014 TAC Environmental Achievement Award will be conferred upon Dillon Consulting Limited and the City of Ottawa in recognition of Terry Fox Drive, March Road to Kanata Avenue: Road Ecology Design Influences on Terry Fox Drive, Ottawa.
The award, which recognizes exemplary contributions to the protection and enhancement of the environment or a particularly original solution to an environmental problem, will be presented at the upcoming TAC Conference & Exhibition in Montreal in September.
A 4.8 kilometre safe connection between two existing pieces of road was constructed to replace an aging two-lane roadway that runs through the wetlands of northern Kanata. The ultimate footprint of the road was reduced by building a four-lane cross-sectional roadway with signalized intersections. A network of ten culverts with skylights, barrier walls and custom fencing were built to guide the wildlife safely into the culverts. Altering the road profile, managing the ecosystem, and building out the ultimate footprint allowed the City to effectively manage the risk of future expansions.
The new Terry Fox Drive roadway was to cut through lands with virgin forests and multiple wetlands, in close proximity to an urban area. This scenario presented a number of challenges. “Four protected species at risk were found, requiring additional sensitivity and awareness of the ecological functioning,” explains Shawn Taylor, Partner and Senior Ecologist at Dillon Consulting Limited. “This was also a stimulus funding project, so the timing to complete was squeezed into 18 months. Developing an ecologically-sensitive solution that met the needs of the master transportation plan, the tight time frame and addressed the wildlife concerns was a significant challenge.”
The number of wildlife mortalities was significantly reduced through cohesive design efforts, accelerated construction and long-term monitoring. “Road ecology is more than installing eco-passage crossings for wildlife,” offers Shawn. “It’s about understanding how a roadway affects their population dynamics, their ability to migrate and the risks taken to cross the road. It’s also storm water runoff on the creeks running underneath, the footprint width of infrastructure through environmentally sensitive areas, and about the flow of energy, organisms and nutrients along this new corridor.”
The two largest target audiences of the Terry Fox roadway would each benefit from the implementation of this project. “The commuting human public needed a better roadway, and animals migrating to habitats for breeding,” adds Shawn. “Motorists now have a safer, wider, cleaner and more efficient road upon which to travel, while various species of wildlife can safely pass through the roadway with a reduced risk of mortality.”
Four other nominations were evaluated by an Environmental Council panel: King Road / CN Rail Grade Separation, Burlington, Ontario (Hatch, Mott, MacDonald and AMEC Environmental & Infrastructure); South Fraser Perimeter Road: Innovative Approaches to Creating Land-Use Compatibility (Transport Canada and British Columbia Transportation and Infrastructure); Reconnecting Fish Populations as Part of a Road Improvement Project in Tingwick, Quebec (ministère des Transports du Québec) and Roadway Engineering with an Environmental Focus Reconstruction of Route 352 in Saint-Adelphe (ministère des Transports du Québec).
A session based on the award encompassing all nominees will be held at TAC’s upcoming conference.
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