A few weeks ago, on behalf of Alberta Rebar, I received the following invitation:

“The NWAHD opening ceremony is scheduled for 9:30-10 a.m. on Tuesday, November 1.  The location is the EB-NB ramp (15.3-15.4) at Manning.  Flatiron – Graham – Parsons, a joint venture, appreciates your organization’s significant contribution to the project and hope you take the opportunity to participate in this ceremony.”

It was a cold and windy morning. Joining me were Mike Levesque (AGF superintendent) and Sandeep Singh (AGF coordinator). This was the first project Sandeep coordinated after joining the Calgary office, and I would like to thank him for his participation: it was a job well done. Mike Levesque did an outstanding job with this project.  I must say that without Mike’s dedication and excellent field supervision, it may have been a different story.

The work started in 2009 with more than 600 MT of black steel and more than 1900 MT of epoxy steel. In 2010, black steel was more than 600 MT and epoxy steel was more than 2000 MT. In 2011 for the wrap-up, black steel was more than 397 MT and epoxy steel was about 916 MT.

Twenty-nine bridges were part of the P3 agreement. The total cost of the project is $1.42 billion (NPV), which included the cost of designing, building, maintaining and financing the project.

The government reviewed which segment of the North Edmonton Ring Road—northwest or northeast—should proceed first and recommended that the northwest segment, from west Yellowhead Trail to Manning Drive Freeway should proceed first. There are a number of issues that still need to be resolved for the remaining northeast segment from Manning Drive Freeway to east Yellowhead Trail. These include land acquisition, geotechnical evaluation for the river crossing and concluding discussions with environmental and other regulatory agencies. While the northwest segment is moving forward, the government continues to move ahead with final planning for the northeast section.