INNOVATION January-February 2018

engineering. Because we would be working in the foreshore, with fisheries and other environmental values of concern, we needed professional biologists.” Adding to the project’s growing complexity, the foreshore itself is dynamic and challenging. “Everything is moving all the time,” Gower explains. “Tides and storm-generated waves constantly change the topography, so by the time we were ready to start construction on the beach, the initial 2011 foreshore survey data were no longer accurate, and we had to alter the project design to work with the new topography.” The foreshore’s dynamic nature also meant adaptive management would be required during actual construction. Rysuk Geotechnical was brought on to supervise construction. Hazelwood Construction Services, the general contractor hired to complete the construction, needed to be willing to adjust daily to changing plans, as the foreshore environment shifted with the tides. “Because of the challenges of working in the foreshore,” Gower explains, “we needed expertise from multiple disciplines for the project to be successful. And, the client and the contractor needed to understand the fluid nature of the foreshore and the multidisciplinary requirements for working there.” ASSESSMENTS AND SITE-SPECIFIC APPROACHES Gower says that “the main goal of the project was to protect the road from erosion. At the same time, we wanted to look at a more balanced approach and apply best practices and sustainable solutions.” A coastal-engineering assessment was key to developing a detailed project design. An assessment examines a site’s environmental conditions—the wind, the waves, the ocean levels, the causes of the erosion, and the site’s geomorphology. But, every stretch of coastline is unique. Its underlying geological processes vary, sometimes every few metres. Wind and waves affect each section of shoreline differently, and what’s going on in one area can impact other areas in different ways. To gain an accurate, finer-resolution picture of shoreline dynamics in the project area, the project team divided the stretch of Lazo Road shoreline into seven sections, based on depth and state of foreshore and backshore. The sections were then studied in detail. Northwest Hydraulic Consultants (NHC) examined each section’s coastal processes and assessed how waves, wind, storm surge and tidal conditions interacted. In the report to Wedler Engineering, NHC’s David McLean, P.Eng., noted that the wave analysis indicated that the intensity of wave attack, which contributes significantly to erosion, varied significantly with elevation. Based on this, he wrote, “the type of erosion protection measures that are appropriate also depend on their location and elevation range.” C ontinues on page 35...

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