Precast Solutions Provided to the “Imagine
Jasper Avenue” Project in the City of Edmonton

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The City of Edmonton has been working on revitalizing and rejuvenating the downtown core for the last several years. One of their recent projects is the “Imagine Jasper Avenue” project (Phase 1).

Jasper Avenue is Edmonton’s premier Main Street, connecting the West End to Downtown. The goal of the Imagine Jasper project is to restore and elevate the avenue, giving it a consistent look and feel. It will highlight the downtown core and provide a safe and enhanced experience for those who walk, bike, drive or use transit. Ultimately, these changes will support the area businesses and attract visitors.

RELATED: Precast Concrete Flood Box Saves Town of Agassiz, B.C. from Floods

ISL Engineering and Land Services Ltd. were retained by the City of Edmonton to provide design and contract administration support services for the Imagine Jasper Avenue project from 109 Street to 114 Street. In addition to the roadway and streetscape elements, a key component of the project involved addressing the flood risk at a trap low at the intersection of Jasper Avenue and 110 Street.

Under existing conditions, the trap low had potential flood to a depth of 1.9 m during the 1/100-year rainfall event, containing about 2,000 m3 of surface flooding, with a risk of inundating a number of nearby building openings. The drainage design included a large sub-surface storage pipe to contain the storm runoff and drain at a controlled rate to the existing sewer system to mitigate the surface flood risk to the new roadway and streetscape infrastructure and surrounding properties.

PCL Construction was the successful bidder for general contracting for the project, Whissell Contracting Ltd., was the drainage sub-contractor and S3 Precast was the successful bidder to provide precast concrete components. S3 Precast is based in Alberta, and which provided the project with a local precast concrete supplier.

In addition to their manufacturing capabilities, S3 Precast also provides a full range of design and engineering support for projects. In the case of the Imagine Jasper Avenue project, the initial design for
the project required a significant run length of new 3.0 m dia. concrete piping to be installed under Jasper
Avenue. The S3 engineering team proposed the use of a box culvert structure that would maintain the required storage capacity while allowing a reduction in the overall run length of the new conduit. The
accepted alternative design that was proposed by S3 Precast was a 144 m run of custom 4 m span by 4m rise precast concrete box structure.

This resulted in a reduction of project costs as well as a reduction in disruptions as the shortened run length avoided the need to cross a major intersection.

S3 worked closely with the GC, PCL Construction Ltd. and Whissell Contracting Ltd. on the logistical aspects of the delivery of these box culvert sections to ensure safe and timely delivery.

ISL Engineering and Land Services would like to thank PCL Construction, Whissell Contracting Ltd and S3 Precast for their contributions to the success full completion of the Imagine Jasper Avenue project.

James Kercher, P.Eng.
Senior Municipal Engineer
ISL Engineering and Land Services Ltd.
Precast Producer: S3 Precast (Alberta)