Innovative Water Crossings
Deep peatland conditions and fish-bearing watercourses occur all across Alberta, limiting the use of conventional road and bridge construction. Roads crossing waterbodies require innovative, environmentally responsible solutions.
Geosynthetic Reinforced Soils Bottomless Culvert
The Boreal Wetland Centre demonstrates a geosynthetic reinforced soil and bottomless culvert bridge. The bottomless culvert means that the creek bed is minimally disturbed, and then through a series of structural supports and compacted soil, a bridge is built up over the culvert.
Benefits:
Hydrology is minimally impacted
Watercourse integrity maintained
Constriction of the bed and banks of the watercourse is avoided
No siltation occurs
Laying down the culvert frame
Finishing off the frame
The construction crew posing next to the project
An informative presentation about the culvert
Completed bottomless culvert bridge 2009
Bottomless Culvert Bridge 2023
The project continues to provide a path for crossing at the Boreal Wetland Center