Landscape: Sharp & Diamond
P3: H5M / Kiewit / TICORP
Installation: Brinkman
Sharp and Diamond’s scope for the Port Mann Highway 1 Onshore Urban Design Restoration project is slowly wrapping up after over six years of design development and installation work including visual character analysis, design criteria, resource procurement, and implementation strategy. The pace of this project ebbed and flowed to meet the construction schedule, and fluctuating weather conditions. This fall (2015) will see the last of the planting installations completed.
The Port Mann/Highway 1 Improvement Project is the largest transportation infrastructure project in B.C. history. Spanning over 25 km from Boundary Road in Vancouver to 176th Street in Surrey, the project was split in to four major segments that each had their own phasing schedules.
The main objective was to complement overpasses and structures with terrain earthworks and plantings while meeting aesthetic, visual safety, and functional requirements. Special attention was given to symbolic gateways and character treatment zones, interchange and bicycle circulation, screening, plant procurement strategy, while improving poor subsoil conditions and natural habitat. SD worked closely with local suppliers and installers to develop a palette featuring a mix of locally available, hardy native species.
In January 2014, the British Columbia Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure announced that the project had won the Deputy Minister’s Consulting Engineers Award for Excellence in Design and Contract Preparation, in the category of Roads.
In April 2014, the project received the Lieutenant General’s Award of Excellence, the premier award of the Association of Consulting Engineering Companies, British Columbia. The project also received ACEC-BC’s Award of Excellence in the Transportation & Bridges Division.