Yellowhead Trail is being expanded to become a freeway with three lanes of free-flowing traffic in each direction with a target speed of 80 km/hr along its 30 km route.
The utility coordination for this project began in 2019 and continues to focus on the identification of utility relocations that need advanced notification to meet the City’s design and construction schedules, the utility approval processes, and various regulatory requirements. To meet their project deadlines, the City created eight Project Consultant teams.
T2ue has been retained by the Owner’s Consultant team to oversee the utility coordination work of all eight Project Consultant teams. More than 4,000 utility conflicts have been identified along the freeway corridor. Relocation of major water, storm and power facilities are required to accommodate the freeway expansion. This unique utility coordination effort has led to the development of a centralized Utility Conflict Matrix to track utility resolution with T2ue working with the individual teams.
The project design uses a Sustainable Urban Integration (SUI) approach to deal with how the freeway looks, operates, and integrates with its surroundings, and Low Impact Development (LID) best management practices to manage stormwater quality and quantity. Both SUI and LID practices affect how utilities are dealt with.
Some of the project segments involve unique roadway configurations to minimize impact on nearby businesses and residential neighborhoods. The innovative configurations require equally innovative utility solutions and, often, non-standard utility network alignments to match the design. T2ue’s experienced utility coordination team reviews and vets the proposed solutions with the Owners Consultant, the City, and the project consultants.
