Anchor Concrete Products Limited of Kingston, Ontario recently contributed to the Highway 407ETR extension project which involved the supply and delivery of supersized precast culverts installed off of Anderson Street in Whitby, Ontario.

Culvert infrastructure has a variety of applications including short-span bridges, underpasses, storm water and stream water conveyance. The culverts used in this project fulfill all three of these applications. The Anchor team worked with the 407 group to design a product that would meet their challenging schedule while providing a high quality, durable structure. The solution provided by the precaster was an innovative, two piece, “clamshell” culvert that incorporated a cantilever joint. This allowed the contractor to place the culvert pieces using only a crane, eliminating the normal task of pulling the pieces together.

This innovative design ensured a very tight fit between the culvert sections and allowed for fast installation and assembly of the structure. The culvert has a 2.1 metre interior height and an 8 metre interior span, its spacious interior will allow wildlife to use the culvert as an underpass; a design that is popular in Alberta and British Columbia due to their large wildlife population. These underpasses give animals a safe passageway to cross the high traffic freeway helping to protect Canadian wildlife and motorists from potentially fatal collisions.

Brennan Paving, the general contractor for the project responsible for the installation of the precast components, were impressed at how easy the installation process of these large pieces was, installing up to six pieces an hour. They could safely erect and install 35 tonnes of concrete in roughly 10 minutes.

The installation included 44 sections of precast box culvert with a combined weight of over 2,640 tonnes placed in just four days. “It was a pleasure to see that the contractor, Brennan Paving, did an exceptional job leveling and compacting the granular base, which allowed our efforts to shine through” said Jeff Bradfield, Anchor Concrete’s President and CEO.

This culvert section, which is the first of three for the 407 ETR extension project, runs 76.6 meters long and 3.5 meters high at its tallest point, making it one of the largest concrete culvert installations in Ontario.