Watch: Metrolinx’s Culvert Replacement Project
Written by Teresa Ko, Metrolinx
Metrolinx will install a new steel pipe culvert as part of the Toronto Lakeshore East Rail Corridor project.
Crews will be replacing a collapsed culvert with a new steel pipe culvert in Small’s Creek, as part of Metrolinx’s Toronto Lakeshore East Rail Corridor project. The work will restore the creek’s water flow through the embankment, improve drainage and reduce the risk of flooding.
The new culvert will be 2 meters wide and approximately 76 meters long. It will maintain the water flowing from the north side (Merrill Bridge Road Park) to the south side (Williamson Park Ravine).
The video below shows its benefits:
How will the culvert be installed?
Following extensive studies, the construction team selected the safest, most efficient and least disruptive option to perform the work.
The construction uses a trenchless method called open-face tunnel boring, which involves a small tunnel boring machine advancing through the embankment and pulling the pipe behind it.
Compared with the other methods, open-face tunnel boring is less disruptive because it uses a smaller footprint than an open trench and doesn’t create vibrations or loud hammer striking noises—reducing the impacts to the green space around it as well as nearby residents.
The new culvert will be located beside the old culvert and the flow of the creek will always be maintained.
Once the installation of the new culvert is complete, water will be diverted into the new culvert, and the old culvert will be capped for safety.
The Toronto Lakeshore East Rail Corridor project also includes grading, retaining walls and bridge widening to accommodate a future fourth track for GO service.
Metrolinx is working to improve infrastructure that will help enable future two-way, all-day, more frequent service.
