Innovation Summer 2026

PROJECT HIGHLIGHTS | 2025-2026

The Vancouver Fraser Port Authority completed road and rail improvements within the Fraser Surrey Port Lands to enhance the efficiency, safety, and resiliency of a key trade corridor serving the Port of Vancouver. The project focused FRASER SURREY PORT LANDS TRANSPORTATION IMPROVEMENTS

on reducing traffic congestion and rail-crossing delays while strengthening the capacity of the transportation network that supports regional and national supply chains. A major component of the work involved extending Timberland Road South as an arterial route to improve traffic flow and increase the reliability of goods movement. The project transformed the Timberland Wye three-way intersection into a standard four-way intersection and upgraded rail crossings to comply with federal standards. The project also improved traffic management and security by adding an inbound truck lane, new access gates, enhanced street lighting, and CCTV cameras, resulting in smoother operations and faster emergency response capabilities. Company: Vancouver Fraser Port Authority (VFPA) Participants: VFPA: Stephen Arogundade, P.Eng. McElhanney: Valentino Tjia, P.Eng., P.E. WSP Canada Inc.: Vedang Vedalkar, PMP. PBX Engineering: Elis Micka, P.Eng. BD Hall Constructors Corp. P hoto credit : M ike H arris /SHD

UBC JACK BELL BUILDING SEISMIC UPGRADE AND RENEWAL

The UBC Jack Bell Building in Vancouver is a 4-storey steel framed building that underwent a complete building renewal and seismic upgrade. The project included replacement of the cladding, an enhanced full-height central atrium, and new feature stairs. In addition to code, fire and life-safety updates, an important project objective was to improve the seismic resiliency of the building under the UBC REDi framework. UBC’s performance targets were seismic collapse prevention under the 2,475-year design earthquake and functional recovery within 6 months of a 475-year event. The upgrade to the existing seismic force resisting system incorporated eccentrically braced frames with replaceable modular links oriented within existing steel moment resisting frames. Performance objectives were verified through nonlinear time history modeling. Enhanced specifications were also used for the operational and functional components, based on RJC’s analysis and following the FEMA P-58 methodology for seismic loss assessments. Company: Read Jones Christoffersen Ltd. (RJC Engineers) Participants: RJC Engineering: Adam Lubell, P.Eng., Struct.Eng.; Meredith Anderson, P.Eng., Struct.Eng.; Richard Darlington, P.Eng.; Dennis Hodkinson, BTech, P.L.Eng., LEED AP LEED® AP O+M, CCCA, CPHD; Maddie Reid, P.Eng. Proscenium Architecture & Interiors Inc.: Kori Chan, AIBC. Teeple Architects Inc.: Avery Guthrie. AES Engineering: Brad Ou-Yang, P.Eng., AME Group: Patrick Stewart, P.Eng. UBC: Jay Hiscox; Noel McNally. P hoto : RJC E ngineers

Summerr 2026 Innovation Innovation

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