Vancouver Skytrain Light Rail System

To address growing demand, the Vancouver International Airport Authority's facilities expansion included a 3,000-metre-long by 60-metre-wide third runway, 13 new taxiways, two new aprons and a new international terminal. However, due to poor soil conditions, the area required a six-month material management plan to import over 2 million cu. metres of sand fill and in excess of 8 million cu. metres of fill over the entire project. In addition, the scope of work included paving, underground utilities and electrical work.

Completed in the fall of 1996, the two-and-a-half year project involved producing and slipform paving over 200,000 cu. metres of concrete and 244,000 tonnes of cement stabilized base, while grading over one million cu. metres of base and subbase. Crews installed over 25 km. of reinforced concrete, as well as high-density polyethylene and polyvinyl chloride drainage pipe, 80 km. of electrical ductwork, and over 2,000 runway light bases.

Using detailed planning and scheduling, Peter Kiewit Sons co., a subsidiary of Kiewit Corporation, completed the project ahead-of-schedule. The expansion provided safer and more efficient airline services for the growing transportation needs on Canada's west coast, while providing the country its first runway with a Category III Instrument Landing System, capable of bringing aircraft in for landing in almost zero visibility.