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Best-Kote Box Culvert best choice for St. John’s stream crossing

November 16, 2019

Area known for its aggressive soil chemistry

When a Galvanized CSP Pipe Arch had reached the end of its service life in an area known for its aggressive soil chemistry, the City of St. John’s opted to replace it with a Super-Cor Box Culvert with Best-Kote Polymer Coating from AIL.

Super•Cor Box Culvert with Polymer Coating under construction

Best•Kote Polymer Coating: design service life of over 75 years
For harsh environments, optional Best-Kote Polymer Coating offers superior protection and long-term durability for our structural steel plate products. In fact, our steel infrastructure with Best-Kote has a design service life of over 75 years.

This two-layer coating system is factory-applied to the finished plates through an electrostatic-bonding process that ensures 360° protection. The first layer is a zinc-rich base layer for excellent corrosion resistance and barrier protection. The second layer is a polymer finish that provides superior resistance to corrosion, abrasion and inorganic acid, salts or alkali (diluted).

Low rise, high flow — Box Culvert ticks all the boxes
While the Best-Kote Polymer Coating addressed the aggressive soil concerns, the Box Culvert’s geometry ticked the rest of the boxes on this project quite nicely.

Because there was a water main below the structure and the stream was prone to flooding, we designed a custom box geometry that met the flow requirements while having a low enough rise to not interfere with the water main.

As with any structural plate crossing solution, bonus points were recognized for the lower installed cost, faster installation and a continuous running surface with no troublesome bridge joints to maintain.

Backfilling and roadway surface of Super•Cor Box Culvert

We worked with the consultant, CBCL, from the preliminary stages of the project, and provided budgetary quotes and timelines. Once the project was awarded to AIL, we organized prompt production and delivery. We provided on-site assistance to ensure the assembly of the structure went smoothly.

Although very prevalent in many areas of Newfoundland and Labrador (see Related Projects), this was the first structural plate solution chosen by the City of St. John’s in over 20 years — thanks to the convincing performance benefits of Best-Kote Polymer Coating. Hopefully, there will be more in the near future.

Coatings on steel are proving to be the way of the future in our industry, with different types of coatings and processes for the various products available. You can learn more about AIL’s leadership in this area in this article:

Canada building on Europe’s success with Polymer Coated Plate >>

RELATED PROJECTS

  • Super-Cor Box with Best-Kote Coating costs 60% less than concrete box in Ontario municipality’s replacement project

    Hensall, Ontario, is a small agricultural community in the Bluewater Municipality of Huron County. When a failed concrete box culvert needed to be replaced on a line road, the municipality selected an AIL Super-Cor Box solution. Including the installation, this choice saved them over 60% versus a new concrete box. With the savings realized, they were able to tender another bridge project.

  • AIL and Algonquin Bridge team up on NSTIR’s East River Bridge replacement project

    Nova Scotia Transportation and Infrastructure Renewal needed to replace an older wooden span bridge at East River on Highway 3, near Chester. AIL designed and supplied a Super•Cor Arch with Best•Kote Polymer Coating and our MSE Precast Panel Walls for the headwalls. AIL Group sister company, Algonquin Bridge, supplied a rental Modular Panel Bridge as a detour bridge for the project duration.

  • Thunder Bay chooses Super-Cor Box Culvert with Best-Kote

    When the City of Thunder Bay, Ontario, needed to replace an aging closed-bottom culvert under Briarwood Drive, they opted for a Super-Cor Box Culvert with Best-Kote Polymer Coating so they could benefit from its 75+ years of design service life expectancy.

  • Custom Super-Cor Box Culvert bumps concrete alternative and saves Ontario town 20%

    The Town of Essex, Ontario, originally tendered this replacement project a year earlier, specified as a concrete box. However, the project did not make it past Town Council due to its cost. AIL was subsequently contacted by the Town’s consulting engineer to see what we could offer as an alternative. We had an initial meeting and quickly came back with a custom geometry that met their unique hydraulic capacity and height of cover requirements.

  • Eastern Ontario township chooses Super-Cor for the sixth time

    The Township of North Glengarry – about halfway between Ottawa and Montreal on Highway 417 – is now home to its sixth AIL Super•Cor project in recent years. It seems they like working with a proven project partner with efficient engineered solutions like Super-Cor – lightweight, strong and easy to ship and install in rural locations with local crews.

  • Polymer-Coated Box Culvert replaces failing NL concrete bridge

    Constructed in the early 1970s and refurbished in the late 1980s, the old concrete bridge over Northeast Brook in Trepassey, NL was undeniably a candidate for full replacement by 2015.

  • Value Engineered Super-Cor solution sways NSTIR off concrete spec

    Nova Scotia Transportation and Infrastructure Renewal (NSTIR) had specified a concrete structure for a stream crossing on the new exit connector joining Highway 103 with Highway 3, at Ingramport, near Halifax. Knowing that our Super•Cor Arch would perform just as well and provide considerable savings, the AIL team went to work to prove their point.

  • Super-Cor Box, MSE Retaining Walls team up on NL bridge replacement

    AIL recently won the contract to design and supply a Super•Cor Box Culvert and MSE Retaining Wingwalls on a concrete bridge replacement project in Gander Bay, NL. The successful bid was the culmination of an extensive lead-up effort with the project partners, and a good illustration of how we work with them through the full project cycle.

  • NL town installs six Box Culverts over 24 years

    Portugal Cove - St. Philip’s is one of the biggest municipalities in Newfoundland and Labrador, spreading over 56 square kilometers along rugged coastal terrain known for putting big demands on roads and bridges.

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