Drivers unnerved by Evergreen Line track construction

COQUITLAM (NEWS1130) – Imagine stopping at a light, looking up, and seeing a gigantic piece of concrete dangling a few metres above your car.

That’s the situation along the Burnaby-Coquitlam border as the track is built for the Evergreen Line.

Some drivers at the intersection of Como Lake Avenue and Clarke Road have been so unnerved, they have stopped well before the light to avoid being under the track segments.

Scott Roberts with the Evergreen Line says it’s the world standard for track construction and while it may look daunting, it’s perfectly safe.

“No vehicles are allowed to travel under it when the concrete sections of the guideway are being lifted upward. But once they are secured to the four high-strength steel hanging bars, it is perfectly safe for vehicles to travel underneath.”

Roberts acknowledges that it does look “interesting,” but says he’s driven under the guideway three times over the last day. “It’s standard practice that’s been used around the world, and the exact same procedure has been used on the Canada and Millenium Lines.”

The slabs weigh between 23 and 36 tonnes; once all the segments are up and in place, there will be tensioning cables that run within the guideway segments that pull them tightly together. There are also teeth within each segment that snap together to stop them from shifting against each other. The whole thing is epoxyed to form one continuous piece of guideway.

The track construction started at Como Lake and Clarke, where the line will tunnel into Burnaby Mountain. It will now continue south along Clarke and North Roads to the Lougheed SkyTrain station.

Sometime this summer, the track-building equipment will be taken apart and reassembled at Coquitlam Central station, and guideway construction will begin up Pinetree Way.