Evergreen Line contractors are expected to soon begin boring the 2 km tunnel from Burquitlam to Barnet Highway in Port Moody and one result will be trucks delivering 200,000 cubic metres of fill to Port Coquitlam 16 hours a day.
According to a recent bulletin from EGRT, the Evergreen builder, trucks will be hauling ground materials but residents aren’t expected to be affected. Trucks won’t be permitted to idle or block View Street and Barnet Highway, and will be waiting in a pre-determined area further west on Barnet. And while noise from equipment will be minimized, the use of back-up beepers will be required.
Material from the tunnel site is not contaminated and will be used as fill for development on Pitt River Road, the Ministry of Highways and Infrastructure said. And there will be a lot of it — the equivalent of filling 100 swimming pools.
Drivers can expect intermittent daytime lane closures of one southbound lane on Barnet as well as temporary two-minute stoppages of traffic on View Street.
The tunnel boring machine will break through at the tunnel portal located just south of Kemsley Avenue on the west side Clarke Road in just under a year. At that time, crews will install concrete within the tunnel and start putting in tracks and power systems.
dstrandberg@tricitynews.com