Winning synergies in Canada
11 February 2016 - Projects update and handover - Canada
By combining its concession and construction know-how, VINCI has won a major contract, the Regina motorway bypass in the province of Saskatchewan. The project will bring into play the complementarity between Eurovia's regional roots through its subsidiary Carmacks in the neighbouring province of Alberta, and the expertise of VINCI Construction Terrassement in major linear infrastructure projects.
This is the first transport infrastructure PPP signed by the province of Saskatchewan, and the VINCI Group's first significant contract in this region in the centre of Canada. The Regina Bypass contract, worth €1.3 billion, covers design, financing and construction over four years, plus operation and maintenance over 30 years of the 61-km 2x2-lane ring road around Regina, capital of Saskatchewan.
It entails construction of 39 kilometres and renovation of another 22 plus creation of 38 engineering structures and 12 interchanges with the associated access routes, for a total of around 400 km of roads. The bypass is part of the Trans Canadian Route 1, which crosses the continent and plays an important role in freight traffic. It will also improve mobility thanks to freer traffic flows and will enhance road safety around the city of Regina.
Several Group entities are positioned on this project:
- VINCI Concessions leads the concession joint venture and provides its skills as a long-term investor;
- Eurovia is involved through Carmacks, its subsidiary based in Edmonton, Alberta, acquired in 2012;
- VINCI Construction Terrassement brings its specific know-how in management, works and engineering in the field of major linear surface infrastructure;
- VINCI Energies is involved through its subsidiary Cegelec Mobility, subcontractor to the construction joint venture for road communications equipment (motorway management system equipped with cameras, variable message panels, fibre optics, etc.).
Local roots a strategic bonus To consolidate its bid and convince the Saskatchewan Ministry of Motorways and Infrastructure, VINCI joined forces with local partners: Graham, a leading West Canada construction company specialising in engineering structures, and Parsons Transportation Group, a world-class designer with substantial resources in Canada.
Eurovia's local roots via its Canada-based subsidiary Carmacks, were a decisive argument for the project. This subsidiary, active in asphalts and road building, can already point to some first experiences in Saskatchewan. The company is recognised in the field of maintenance thanks to major long-term (30 or 40 years) contracts on its domestic market in Alberta, in Edmonton and Calgary. Associated with VINCI Highways (VINCI Concessions) in the operation-maintenance joint venture, Carmarks will in particular be responsible for routine maintenance of the infrastructure, which covers repair of cracking but also snow removal, wildlife management and upgrading of safety barriers.
Dealing with the climate
The Canadian winter generates significant planning constraints and notably the need for very rapid earthworks. "You have to excavate the materials, bring them on site and compact them then have them approved by the lab within a quarter of an hour. You also have to operate continuously on the same structure, 24 hours a day and 7 days a week, otherwise you have to wait for the next spring," explains Jacques Darbin, deputy director of the project for the design-construction venture. One-third of the infrastructure must be delivered in 2017, a very ambitious target.
For this reason, the worksite was divided into three independent sections, with a boss for each section, centralised management to ensure a uniform result and common project management for general coordination.
The climate also dictates the properties of the future road, which must be able to tolerate very wide thermal variations, with record temperatures that can exceed -45 or +45°C.
For this road, Eurovia's North-American Technical Centre in Montréal selected and tested Modulovia, developed by Eurovia. Both solid and flexible, with anti-rut properties and very good resistance to wear and cracking, this product will provide a durable solution, making it economical over the longer term, and will facilitate heavy maintenance. "This will let us optimise asphalt thickness and meet the project's performance criteria without overbuilding", says Gordon Pasini, manager of Carmacks' Highways division. The builder had another challenge to meet: it had to guarantee the same properties on the renovated sections as for the new road sections. The project partners will have to meet these technical challenges while ensuring good functioning of a special purpose vehicle that will bring together teams from very different backgrounds. Another opportunity for VINCI to confirm its development model in a region of the world that presents a wide array of opportunities.
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