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Michel Vachon delivered a keynote presentation entitled “Recent Canadian Experience in Accelerated Bridge Construction” at the CSCE 8th International Conference on Short and Medium Span Bridges held in Niagara Falls on Aug 3-6, 2010. Michel is the manager of MRC’s bridge group in the Ottawa Office. MRC/MMM Group was a Platinum Sponsor of the conference.
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A total of 28 staff from the various bridge engineering groups across Canada attended the CSCE 8th International Conference on Short and Medium Span Bridges held in Niagara Falls on Aug 3-6, 2010. MRC/MMM bridge engineering staff presented 8 technical papers at the conference. MRC/MMM Group was a Platinum Sponsor of the conference.
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May 31, 2010 saw an intrepid group of Mississauga Office staff peddle their way to work to help promote bicycling as a viable, environmentally-friendly commute option. Around 20 staff met up with a similar number of Hatch Limited staff for a celebratory early morning breakfast before completing their cycle to the office.
MRC and Ecoplans are proud sustaining members of Smart Commute Mississauga; providing employees with a variety of services and incentives to commute sustainably.
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MRC and Delcan recently completed a major assignment to develop a province-wide action plan and implementation strategy to facilitate the efficient movement of people and goods across the border at all 14 land border crossings between Ontario and the United States. The study, which was undertaken for the Ministry of Transportation Ontario (MTO) and Transport Canada, received a 2010 CEO Award of Merit in the Studies and Research Category at the 2010 CEO Conference held at the Deerhurst Resort on June 9, 2010.
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Traditional techniques for estimating the traffic capacity of lane-reduced work-zones have not produced consistently reliable techniques for overnight work-zones on Ontario’s expressways. Using data recorded at eight overnight work-zones in conjunction with micro-simulation, MRC has identified several new insights into work-zone capacity for the Ministry of Transportation. This work was presented at the 2010 Annual Meeting of the Transportation Research Board.
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MRC completed a study for the Sarnia-Lambton Economic Partnership (SLEP) and the Chamber of Commerce to examine opportunities to enhance and/or expand the twice daily rail passenger connections to London and the GTA. A key component of this study was developing a market survey. The two most promising opportunities are first to work with VIA to fine tune the current schedule to meet a wide-range of user needs, and secondly to examine a potential Budd Car service between Sarnia and London.
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MRC, in collaboration with Delcan, is currently developing a 3-level simulation framework of the GTA for the Ministry of Transportation. This framework, believed to be the first operational 3-level model in the world, provides macroscopic, mesoscopic, and microscopic levels of modelling detail from a single platform. It is just another step in MRC’s leading edge role in the application of simulation to transportation issues.
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MRC completed a planning and environmental assessment study for the improvements of the Sault Ste Marie International Bridge Canadian Plaza Improvements in 2009. In January 2010, partnering with a local architect in Sault Ste Marie, MRC started the detail design for the $50M improvement works.
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Under a standing offer agreement with Parks Canada, MRC is completing various restoration projects to stone masonry walls, retaining walls, windows and, doors throughout the Fort Complex. Projects are ongoing through 2010 and 2011.
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As part of the new southwest transitway for the City of Ottawa, a new $24 million, 285 metre long tunnel is now under construction, adjacent to the new ACCE building for Algonquin College. The tunnel will accommodate two OC Transpo bus lanes and two light rail transit lines as well as pedestrian loading platforms. Construction is to be complete by March 2011.
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In March 2010, MRC, in partner with U.S. firms, has completed a bi-national Transportation Operations Study for the Niagara-Buffalo areas in the Canada-U.S. border frontier. The study, which was commissioned by the Niagara International Transportation Technology Coalition (NITTEC), consisted of: the development of a NITTEC Regional Concept for Transportation Operations (RCTO) and providing support to NITTEC in the development of an Integrated Corridor Management (ICM) initiative. Recommendations included a framework for regional agencies to improve regional transportation system performance and to operate the established priority corridors in a more coordinated and integrated manner, thereby increasing overall corridor throughput and enhancing the mobility of the corridor.
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October 27, 2009
MRC was retained by the Canadian Urban Transit Association (CUTA) to develop a vision for transit in 2040 and establish a path to achieve this. The vision was based on an understanding of how current trends and issues are likely to influence communities 30+ years in the future and identifies how transit could maximize its contribution to the quality of life. The Vision was formally presented to government leaders and the Federation of Canadian Municipalities at a conference in June 2009. CUTA has engaged MRC to take this work a step further and align the Association’s business planning process with Transit Vision 2040. This work will be concluded in May 2010.
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October 28, 2009
MRC is completing the field inspection and evaluation of fifty (50) remote right-of-way access bridges for Hydro One. This challenging assignment required access by all-terrain vehicles (ATVs) and, in some cases, helicopters to access the bridges, which are located throughout Northern Ontario. Inspection reporting will be completed following the bridge Inspection Manual of Public Works and Government Services Canada which was also developed by MRC.
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October 15, 2009
MRC recently commenced the Preliminary Design and Class Environmental Assessment for the Queen Elizabeth Way (QEW) between Hurontario Street and Mississauga Road in Mississauga. This challenging assignment must address the key concerns of municipal road congestion on approaching roadways/ramps, the poor condition of the existing QEW Credit River Bridge, noise and air quality concerns, the existing narrow right-of-way, and the complex staging that will be associated with improvements to this heavily travelled section of the QEW.
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May 15, 2009
On May 15, 2009 Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty announced that construction of 4-laning will start on a section of the Trans-Canada Highway next year with equal contributions by both levels of government totaling to $100M. This announcement coincides with the start-up of a new MRC assignment to carry out planning and preliminary design for this project. Since the announcement, due the priority of the project, planning has been split into three sections that will each lead to separate deliverables. The first two transportation environmental assessment reports are due to be completed by the Fall of 2009 – a 5 month period. The remainder of the planning will be on a more traditional schedule.
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May 13, 2009
MRC’s design of the Clyde Avenue Bridge, Rapid Replacement on Hwy 17 in Ottawa received an Award of Excellence in the Engineering Category at CISC’s Ontario Region 2009 Steel Design Awards held at the Mississauga Living Arts Centre on May 13, 2009.
The firm’s design of the Sioux Narrows Bridge Replacement in Northern Ontario was selected as the Best Converted Project for Projects Converted to Steel at the same 19th Annual Ontario Steel Design Awards.
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We are pleased to note that we have made dramatic improvements to the Worldwide Arterial HOV Lane Database portion of the MRC web site, with added features and more detail on every operating facility on four continents. With updated operational descriptions, project photos, project reports, maps, and direct links to project web sites, all organized in an easy-to-use interface, MRC’s HOV lane resources are now fully available to researchers and the public. We will continue to add content over the coming months as we keep abreast of this transportation phenomenon.
Simply click on “High Occupancy Vehicle Systems” under “Services”, then click on the link to “Worldwide Arterial HOV Database” at the top of the page. On the project listing, be sure to click on “Details” to get the full picture of each facility.
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