PROJECTS | AMERICAS
TAC AWARDS
The Tunnelling Association of Canada (Association Canadienne des tunnels) recently presented its 2024 TAC Awards
TAC Awards presented in October 2024 by The Tunnelling Association of Canada (Association Canadienne des tunnels) included: ● Lifetime Achievement – Serge Moalli ● Tunneller of the Year – Tim Cleary ● Young Tunneller of the Year – Ashley Galagusz ● Canadian Innovation Initiative – Innovative approach to install precast segmental lining in lieu of cast-in- place in starter tunnels
● Canadian Project of the Year (up to Can$300m) – Second Narrows Water Supply Tunnel
● Canadian Project of the Year (over Can$300m) – Réseau Express Métropolitain
Lifetime Achievement Award Serge Moalli’s long civil engineering career has been dedicated to innovation and leadership. Graduating with a Civil Engineering degree from Ecole Polytechnic de Montreal in 1977, he focused on underground engineering works, such as: deep interceptor sewer projects in Montreal (1980s), then US soft ground tunnels (1990s), rising from office cost and field engineer, project engineer and project manager to managing EBC’s tunnelling and underground group. He has been involved in the construction of around 50km of tunnels across North America.
Tunneller of the Year Tim Cleary has been at the helm of some of the most ambitious tunnelling projects in North America. As general manager for tunnels at McNally International, has played a pivotal role since the inception of the company. His portfolio of projects reads like a history of modern
tunnelling, including: 14th Ave Sewer (1993); Sheppard Subway, Toronto (1999); 9th Line Sewer (2000); 16th Ave Sewer (2004); Edmonton South LRT (2007); York Spadina Extension, Toronto (2013); Burnaby Mountain Tunnel (2022); and, the West Vaughan Sewer, Ontario (2024).
Young Tunneller of the Year After graduating from McGill University in Montreal, Ashley Galagusz became a tunnel engineer in training at MMM Group, in Ontario. In 2016 she jointed Black and Veatch where she took on a pivotal role in the integrated pumping station project for Toronto, leading the design of intricate micro tunnels, rock tunnels and shafts. On the Darlington nuclear project she has overseen the design of a new intake and outfall tunnel beneath Lake
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Ontario. Her current role is tunnelling practice lead for northern California and the Pacific northwest.
Canadian Innovation Initiative This award recognised the innovative approach to installing precast segmental lining in lieu of cast-in- place in starter tunnels, on the Coxwell project, in Toronto. The project is to capture, store and convey combined sewer overflows to the Ashbridges Bay treatment plant. Building the 10.5km-long bored tunnel Jay Dee
Canada, lead partner of North Tunnel Constructors, required a solution to overcome the challenges of casting the final lining of the starter and tail tunnel excavations. A pioneering machine designed and built in collaboration with Everest, proved an efficient and cost- effective solution. The erector assembles, transports and installs pre-
cast tunnel segments one ring at a time with a rigid rotating platform, known as the Spider. Segments are assembled, horizontally, into a full ring at the base of the launch shaft and then the ring is pivoted forward, transported along the tunnel on rails and put into position, with adjustments in roll, pitch and lateral positioning to ensure the segment ring aligns with the existing liner. A cable and pulley system pulls the ring tight against the liner and hydraulic cylinders maintain gasket compression. Once in place the rings are supported by timber and steel blocks and secured with steel straps. The completed liner is then backfilled with concrete.
Above: TAC’s 2024 Innovation Award was for a new machine system enabling assembly and installation of precast concrete rings in lieu of cast-in-place in starter tunnels, on the Coxwell bypass project, in Toronto IMAGE COURTESY OF TAC
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