Newtown Creek Crossing

Client: CN Railways

During the initial construction of the CN railway, a small stream was cut off by a 10 m rail grade right at its mouth at the Skeena River. During much of the year, higher water levels in the Skeena River created hydrostatic pressure which resulted in the formation of a pond just upstream of the grade. Our team performed fisheries and vegetation management during the installation of a 3 m by 35 m culvert at or below the minimum water level of the Skeena that was designed to restore the natural flow of the stream.

This very complex job included permitting, monitoring fish populations prior and post construction, protecting existing resident fish during the construction, planning and installation of mitigation/compensation measures and providing environmental monitoring.

The project was also complicated by a time restraint due to the importance of the track; it could not be closed for more than 23 hours.

Once installation was complete, our team arranged for revegetation of the site and designed a 5 year monitoring program to ensure habitat and population targets were met.