Being the largest transit expansion in Canada, with significant on-going disruption to Toronto’s population, any delay to the development of Eglinton Crosstown LRT is not welcome news. Especially when that delay is totally unexpected. That’s exactly what happened when the construction crew discovered groundwater where there wasn’t supposed to be any!
Early one morning, WJ Canada received a call for help. The CTS construction team, working at the Science Centre Station, encountered groundwater at the bottom of the excavation. The Science Centre Station is the longest excavation on the entire Eglinton Crosstown project, at 800m in length, with the deepest part being underneath Don Mills Road.
According to a previous hydrogeological investigation, there was not supposed to be water present. Yet, to their surprise, as the CTS crew approached the bottom of an aquifer on a clay Till, they were greeted by approximately 1m of water. This prevented the last section of excavation and concrete placement. It also meant a potentially serious delay to the project!
Once we’d received CTS’s call for help, WJ was on-site within just a few days and we wasted no time in getting straight to work. This involved drilling inclined well-points on both the north and south side of the excavation. We worked from the bottom of the shaft, through the lagging wall, and got the entire system commissioned in record time.
Just two weeks after receiving their call for help, WJ had dewatered the Science Centre Station site. CTS were able to resume excavation in dry conditions. Within 3 months, CTS had completed all concrete and waterproofing systems and WJ was able to decommission the system.
“WJ came in on very short notice and executed a professional and effective dewatering solution. Their solution was cost effective and efficient as the wells were short and installed from the base of the excavation. The solution was tailored to our needs as they allowed us to complete our station build-back all the while remaining functional behind the waterproofing membrane. I would recommend WJ to any contractor in need of a dewatering partner.”
– Diego Ocampo, Project Manager, Science Centre Station
- LOCATION: Oakwood Station, Eglinton Crosstown Light Rail Transit
- CLIENT: Crosslinx Transit Solutions
- MAIN CONTRACTOR: CTS
