Abstract Manager

I am the son of a biologist responsible for the mountain pine beetle mitigation efforts in the Bow Valley. His work taught me the importance of balancing the aims of human society with those of the wilderness. As a professional member of APEGA, I carry this passion with me in my work as a structural engineer and a resident of Canmore who has a personal stake in the contentious interplay between development and wildlife corridors in the Bow Valley. My work focuses on structural engineering design and construction of provincial transportation infrastructure - primarily bridges.

I am the resident engineer for the construction of Alberta's first wildlife overpass outside of the national park system. The overpass structure on HWY1 provides a crucial link for animals at the entrance to the Bow Valley just west of the Kananaskis River. Since April 2022, I have built strong relationships with the project team members from the province, contractors, and nearby land owners to deliver a high-quality structure safely and efficently. Inevitable challenges have arisen during construction, and these relationships have been crucial to keep the project moving forward. In response to some of these challenges, I redesigned the concrete connection between the foundations and the arch collar at the mouths of the structure to avoid costly and time consuming rework. 

Each of the challenges has taught the team useful lessons for how to design and construct wildlife mitigation infrastructure in the future. For example, the original jump out design used an earth cut to prevent animals from re-entering the fenced corridor. The extreme winds and heavy snows in the area filled the cuts with drifted snow which now allowed animals to walk into the driving corridor. We solved this unintended consequence by redesining the jump outs as earth fills, and the client paid to reconstruct all 21 jump outs along the corridor. 

This project been more meaningful to me than any bridge I have built for humans. I have learned much during its construction and I would love an opportunity to share what I have learned with the panel. Thank you for your consideration.