Completion of Burlington’s King Road Underpass Project

With the help of Western’s Millwright division, the City of Burlington’s reached a significant milestone within the King Road Underpass project, that calls for the installation of an underpass at a busy rail crossing. More than 100 trains, both freight and commuter, pass through this location in one day. Over the Thanksgiving weekend a 2,400-tonne (5,000,000 pound) concrete underpass built onsite was moved under the four railway lines using a unique system of hydraulic jack and slide cylinders.

Western worked with the City of Burlington, CN Rail and other contractors to complete one of the largest ever bridge hydraulic jacking projects in Canada. The bridge in question weighed approximately 5 million pounds and was installed over Thanksgiving weekend with minimal disruption to train and roadway traffic. In order to reduce friction forces and enable minimal equipment, an air system was installed, which literally lifted the bridge 0.25″ off the ground and released the tunnel from the concrete form below.