Construction began in August of 2011 on Windsor Essex Parkway in Ontario and is expected to complete in late 2014. Schӧck ComBAR® GFRP is included within bridge barriers in $1.4 billion highway infrastructure project in the municipalities of Windsor, LaSalle, and Tecumseh, in Ontario, Canada. The parkway is now called Rt. Hon. Herb Gray Parkway, following the renaming in 2012.
The goal of the project is to improve traffic flow at Canada’s premier trade gateway from Canada to the US, carrying 28% of Canada’s trade with the US. This route goes through Windsor and links Detroit to Ontario’s Highway 401. The parkway prides itself on the community enhancements and environmental features of the project.
Schöck ComBAR® is being installed to eliminate the issue of corrosion on the bridges barriers, extending the integrity and service life time of the structures. Infrastructures often have to be repaired and replaced because the steel reinforcement within them has corroded destroying the concrete microstructure. This particularly applies to bridges exposed to de-icing salts such as you see in Canada.
Schöck ComBAR® provides a solid bridge barrier, designed to MTO standard, and proven with the PL-3 barrier wall crash test we conducted in 2010.
The Rt. Hon. Herb Gray Parkway spans an 11 kilometre corridor and includes three essential components:
- a six-lane below-grade freeway which is an extension of Highway 401
- a four-lane at-grade service road network which is an extension of Highway 3
- 300 acres of green space which will include 20 kilometres of recreational trails, ecological restoration sites and thousands of new native trees and vegetation. Source: http://www.hgparkway.ca/#sthash.5tESSoeN.dpuf
Installation of Schöck ComBAR® continues on the bridges for Essex this year and should be finish by year end.