TRANSPORT, WATER - CANADA | SECTOR


litres of drinking water a day to Vancouver, Burnaby, Richmond, New Westminster, Delta, and parts of Coquitlam and Surrey. The tunnel lies 30m below the bottom of the


Burrard Inlet, east of the Ironworkers Memorial Bridge, between Burnaby and the District of North Vancouver. It was excavated through a variety of ground conditions using a slurry TBM, and replaces three water mains built between the 1940s and 1970s that are vulnerable to seismic damage. “Building this tunnel under the Burrard Inlet was a


massive project and is another great example of the critical infrastructure that Metro Vancouver delivers for this region,” said Mike Hurley, Chair of Metro Vancouver’s board of directors. “For a sense of scale, this tunnel was large enough


to drive a truck through – and now it holds three separate water mains that will increase capacity and ensure we can continue supplying water following a major earthquake.” With the tunnel now substantially complete, Metro


Vancouver will start connecting the new water mains to the existing water supply system. Work on these tie-ins will occur on both sides of the Burrard Inlet, and each connection is expected to take several months to complete. The Second Narrows Water Supply Tunnel is


expected to be fully in service by 2028. In 2024, the project won TAC’s Canadian Project


of the Year Award. This year, it received the Award of Excellence from the Association of Consulting Engineers – BC Chapter in the Municipal and Civil Infrastructure category.


TORONTO METRO, DARLINGTON NUCLEAR Among key tunnel projects underway in Ontario are the expansion of Toronto’s metro with the Ontario Line, and preparing for boring of a cooling water tunnel for a new power plant at Darlington nuclear site.


Getting down in Toronto Ground breaking has taken place on the second tunnel launch shaft for Toronto’s Ontario Line. From the launch shaft, TBMs will travel north, digging


3km of twin tunnels underneath Pape Avenue. The launch shaft will eventually serve as the tunnel portal, where Ontario Line trains will move from above-ground tracks to the underground tunnels. The 15.6km-long Ontario Line will have 15 stations,


running from Exhibition Place through the downtown core and connecting to the Line 5 Eglinton at Don Mills Road. Gerrard station, located just south of the launch shaft


and future portal, will put nearly 12,000 people within walking distance of the Ontario Line, with over 3,000 passengers expected to use the station during the daily rush hour. Work on the first launch shaft near Exhibition station started in November 2024. In mid-2025, Metrolinx launched a naming competition


for the first pair of the four TBMs that are to be deployed on the project.


Boring for nuclear power project Ontario Power Generation (OPG) is partnering with GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy, SNC-Lavalin, and Aecon on the project to build Canada’s first small modular reactor (SMR), located at the Darlington nuclear site. The project calls for construction of a 3.4km-long condenser cooling water


January 2026 | 27


Above:


Construction advancing on Toronto’s Ontario Line


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