The Forest Engineering Research Institute of Canada (FERIC) and the B.C. Ministry of Forests’ Resource Tenures and Engineering Branch surveyed users of closed-bottom corrugated-steel embedded culverts to find installations that generally conform to the Fish-stream Crossing Guidebook that was released in 2002 under the Forest Practices Code of British Columbia Act. This report describes seven sites that were visited, and includes the installation procedures and costs for each of the sites.
The Forest Engineering Research Institute of Canada (FERIC) surveyed users of closed-bottom corrugated-steel embedded culverts within British Columbia and visited selected sites. This report presents information about the installations visited, including the installation procedures and costs. This report also provides suggestions for the implementation of future embedded culverts.
Resource extraction companies in western Canada share the same road networks and, as such, frequently must construct road crossings of buried pipelines. Regulations require that construction within the pipeline right-of-way be approved and supervised by the pipeline owner, and be positively located prior to construction. The form of crossing, however, is not well defined and requirements vary between pipeline companies and, even, between construction supervisors working for the same pipeline company. Delays in receiving crossing permits, scheduling difficulties with arranging for pipeline locating and for pipeline representatives to be on site for the construction, and varying and ill- defined construction requirements are challenges for both forestry and oil and gas companies that must cross buried pipelines.
The Forest Engineering Research Institute of Canada (FERIC) monitored and documented the installation of an embedded corrugated-steel pipe culvert as a replacement structure for a perched culvert. Detailed installation procedures and total costs (including planning) for the project are presented. Suggestions for implementation of future embedded culverts are given.
The Forest Engineering Research Institute of Canada (FERIC) monitored and documented the installation of a closed-bottom corrugated-steel embedded pipe culvert on a newly built section of forest road near Powell River, B.C. Detailed installation procedures and cost information are presented. Suggestions for implementation of future embedded culverts are given.
The Forest Engineering Research Institute of Canada (FERIC) monitored and documented the installation of an embedded corrugated-steel pipe culvert as a replacement structure for a temporary concrete-slab bridge. Detailed installation procedures and total costs (including planning) for the project are presented. Suggestions for implementation of future embedded culverts are given.
FPInnovations, with funding from the Canadian Forest Service, is currently investigating the feasibility and form of standardized road - pipeline crossings. FPInnovations and Access Pipeline Inc. jointly conducted a field trial to evaluate the structural responses from heavy vehicle traffic to large (National) pipeline segments buried within a native earth road. This field trial was intended to contribute to the general knowledge of the industry, and more specifically to document the structural performance of large diameter, stiff-walled (pipeline) pipe buried under roads that are crossed by heavy equipment.
In many areas of the Prairie provinces (Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba) and northeastern B.C., the forest industry shares operating areas and resource roads with oil, gas, and pipeline companies. Many Alberta forest operations report that their resource road construction operations build hundreds of pipeline crossings per year and deal with up to 50 different pipeline owners. Written permission is required to cross various buried utilities. The Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers Agreement for Facility Crossings (CAPP 2001) often forms part of facility crossing agreements. These formal documents contain the legal requirements of both parties named in the agreements, and include the agreement itself, the location and plan profile, and specific and mutually agreed-to terms and conditions. Some of the clauses are specific to the construction of pipeline crossings, such as 72-hour notification before work starts, inspection of works, limits and distances from pipeline for construction-related activities, cover depth above pipeline, and other overarching requirements. Ground disturbance training, for both safe work procedures and an understanding of the relevant acts and regulations, provides a level of competency for those involved with pipeline crossings and is a requirement for work in Alberta.
Forest operations report that the approval process for these crossings can be costly, time-consuming, and frustrating because the crossing design requirements vary according to the pipeline owner and/or the arbitrary judgement of the site inspector from the pipeline company (many of these requirements are related to what has been done in the past). Over time, the concerns and constraints related to pipeline crossings have grown. The objective of this project is to develop a set of generic, cost-effective, and accepted pipeline crossing designs for both permanent and temporary resource roads.
