The Waterfront Access Project - Northwest Geotech
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The Waterfront Access Project
Special Inspection/Materials Testing
NTI provided special inspection and materials testing
services in support of the owner’s quality assurance
program for the Vancouver Waterfront Access Project.
The project was one of twenty phases of the $137
million West Vancouver Freight Access project.
Construction of the Waterfront Access Project took place
in two phases, the Railway Phase and the Roadway Phase.
Completed in 2013, the $44 million Waterfront Access
Project, including Burlington Northern Santa Fe (BNSF)
Railway’s portion, included design, rights of way
acquisition, and construction. The project involved
road, rail, and utility improvements, including
reconstruction of the BNSF railway berm in downtown
Vancouver and extension of Esther Street and Grant
Street under the rail line. The project additionally
included construction of a shoofly (temporary track)
built to carry BNSF rail traffic that was shifted from
the mainline, two two-span post-tensioned concrete
railway bridges over Esther Street and Grant Street,
associated rail work, retaining walls, lowering of
roadways and drainage improvements. The project
restored the historic direct connection of the community
to the Columbia River waterfront. In addition, it linked
downtown Vancouver to a future major waterfront
redevelopment at a former industrial site, and energized
an estimated $1.3 billion in new private investment in
the community. NTI’s special inspection and
materials testing services included earthwork
construction monitoring and in-place nuclear density
testing of structural fills for the bridge abutments and
railway realignment, visual welding inspection,
non-destructive weld evaluation, inspections and
materials testing of reinforced concrete for the bridge
spans, abutments and retaining walls, and laboratory
testing.