The city of Las Vegas, Nevada has been notorious for its new projects in infrastructure for decades, and now a new breakthrough addition is about to be made. News of a potential subway line underneath the infamous strip has been stirring, and the feedback has been one extreme to the other. This new project proposal was one of many unveiled by the Regional Transportation Commission of South Nevada to aid with the heavy traffic flow along the resort and nightlife hub. This new addition to the city will have a huge impact on traffic flow during peak seasons and times of major conventions, but the constant construction for the next few years will cause serious delays.
There are many positive aspects to this proposed construction project, in particularly the increase of job opportunities that could help boost this economic sector. The construction of subway lines in major cities have become imperative to decrease the amount of traffic and when built properly, are incredibly time saving for commuters. In Hangzhou, China, a city with a population of over 8 million people, the city’s urbanization team did not begin working on subway lines until recent years and have fallen behind in comparison to other cities in the nation such as Shanghai and Beijing.
In our nation’s capital of Ottawa, Canada, the LRT (light rail transit) is aimed towards redesigning the way citizens live in Ottawa completely. Recently, Carling Avenue in Ottawa was named one 5th worst road in Canada for traffic, and the highways are not much better. The urbanization plans for the city did not take into consideration the increase in population, and those who live in the suburbs are forced to commute three times as long than they should during rush hours. The Subway line is meant to connect downtown to all the suburban areas and lessen the use of the city’s unreliable bus system, OC transpo (commonly referred to as “No See Transpo” or “No Show Transpo”. In a city wit such intensely cold winters, a subway line would be life changing for those who must commute to work and school every day.
The construction behind building a subway line requires high-tech machinery, but more importantly, strong and durable materials. A tunnel boring machine as seen above is used to clear an underground pathway to begin the construction. The apparatus forces its way through soil, rocks and other minerals to do so, while the residue cleared by the tunnel boring machine is taken away by a conveyer system, and eventually shipped out by dump trucks. Before construction can begin, a very important step in the process must be made. Concrete segments, also referred to as liners, are moulded and used to shape the tunnel and protect the interior from falling minerals and other dangerous aspects. It is important that this pieces are made of concrete mixes that are not only strong, but also sustainable. Devices such as the Giatec RCON and Surf to test for electrical resistivity in concrete can assure concrete mixes will produce long-lasting infrastructure by testing in a laboratory before construction. To learn more, check out Giatec’s products page, or contact us for more information about the new breakthroughs in technology that can ensure the safety of future construction projects.
Sources: Josh O’Kane, Globe & Mail, Richard Velotta, Review Journal, TTC Building a Subway
