Arup Celebrates Grand Opening of Montreal's Autoroute 30

MONTREAL, Dec. 20, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Arup, a multidisciplinary engineering and consulting firm, announced today that the Autoroute 30 (A30) highway project that crosses Montreal is officially open. A ribbon-cutting ceremony involving project representatives and provincial dignitaries took place on Monday, December 17, 2012 at the Beauharnois Canal Bridge over the St Lawrence Seaway.  The $1.5B (CAD) A30 project is one of the largest design/build public-private partnership (P3) projects in North America.

Owned by the Ministry of Transport Quebec (MTQ), the A30 is connected to several principal highways in the greater Montreal area and will complete the city's south orbital road. The A30 is connected to the A20, which is the primary corridor for industrial, commercial, and agricultural transportation between Quebec and Ontario. Construction of this new highway will alleviate traffic congestion in this key economic area by bypassing the island of Montreal entirely. Nouvelle Autoroute 30 SENC was awarded the 35-year contract to design, build, finance, operate, maintain, and rehabilitate this western section of the highway. Arup was selected to lead the bridge and highway engineering design services.

Arup's project staff, comprised of teams based in Montreal, New York, the UK and Hong Kong, worked with the concessionaire consortium to design and audit the construction of the highway. Arup's approach to innovation and sustainability has contributed to the success of the project.  Bridge designers took into consideration ship impact assessments, seismicity, wind, river hydraulics and ice. Highway designers solved challenges such as soft clay, short construction periods and cold weather conditions that significantly influenced options for embankments, abutments and foundations.

"As lead design engineer, this opening represents 4 years and over 500,000 person-hours for Arup. At the end of a challenging yet rewarding project, we are happy to see the team's work come to fruition, to the benefit of the citizens of Montreal," said Doug Balmer, associate principal at Arup and A30 project manager. "With Arup now establishing a permanent office in Montreal, we look forward to applying our global experience and creativity to many future projects within Quebec."

Construction on the four-lane highway began in 2009 to complete a highway link that started in the 1960's. In addition to improving traffic congestion and promoting economic development in the southwest corner of the Quebec province, the A30 will strengthen commercial ties to Ontario and the Northeast United States. Project collaborators included NA30 CJV partners: Dragados Canada, Acciona Infrastructure Canada, Aecon, and Verreault, with Acciona Concessionaire/ACS Infrastructures acting as Concessionaire.

About Arup
Arup is the creative force at the heart of many of the world's most prominent projects in the built environment and across industry. Its engineers and consultants deliver innovative projects across the world. Arup opened its first North American office 25 years ago, and now employs 1,000 in the Americas. The firm was founded in 1946 with an enduring set of values that fosters a distinctive culture, intellectual independence and collaborative approach. The people at Arup are driven to find a better way to deliver better solutions for their clients. (www.arup.com)

SOURCE Arup