With a greater understanding of the importance of planning, designing, constructing and operating sustainable infrastructure, the highway design and construction industry must endeavor to develop new methods to reduce adverse environmental impacts and conserve natural resources. The Golden Hill to West Portal highway project in British Columbia is one such innovative example where infrastructure renewal can integrate with the surrounding environment and enhance mobility for vehicles, pedestrians, cyclists and wildlife. This project, funded through a federal-provincial cost sharing agreement under the Building Canada Fund, is the third phase of the Kicking Horse Canyon Project. The curvilinear alignment provides a transition from the Town of Golden to the strategic east-west link, the TransCanada Highway. The project has been procured following the design-build model which engaged three consultant-contractor teams in a design competition. This paper describes some of the challenges and opportunities unique to this innovative interchange and highway alignment. Construction on the 4 km long corridor will begin in 2010 and includes an interchange with Golden Donald Upper Road that incorporates a roundabout junction, ungulate guards on the access roads to the TransCanada Highway, cyclist and pedestrian paths linked to a trail system, and a dedicated wildlife crossing structure over the TransCanada Highway. The project serves as an innovative example of design geometry that balances the needs of a variety of road users while adapting to the topographic and environmental constraints inherent along the corridor. For teh covering abstract of this conference see ITRD number E220308.
Abstract