Case Study

Golden Ears Bridge

Year Completed

2009

Capital Cost

$808M

About This Project

Crossing the Fraser River in the shadows of its namesake mountains, the Golden Ears Bridge spans 976 metres. This makes it North America’s longest extradosed bridge, a form that blends the design elements of box girder and cable-stayed bridges. BKL joined the Public Private Partnership (P3) Golden Ears Bridge Project joint venture team in 2005 as the project acoustical consultant until its completion in 2009. In addition to the bridge, which is owned by TransLink, the project included 1.4 kilometres of approaches and Golden Ears Way, 12 kilometres of new road from Highway 15, Surrey, to 203rd Street, Maple Ridge.

Construction Noise

BKL’s first task was to develop a construction noise management and monitoring plan for the project. This site-specific plan was created to limit the effects of construction noise on nearby residences and ensure that noise levels would meet the criteria of municipal bylaws, worker safety regulations, and the project’s agreement with the nearby Katzie First Nation (KFN). The plan included best management practices to minimize construction noise at the sources and avoid noise impacts when conducting construction activities.

Operations Noise

The project agreement required mitigating future traffic noise in accordance with the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure’s highway noise policy. BKL assessed potential road traffic noise in residential neighbourhoods in KFN, Pitt Meadows, Maple Ridge, Langley, and Surrey, at more than 150 residences.

BKL met with concerned residents to understand their noise concerns, such as rail noise reflections off the underside of the rail overpass deck, the bus-only on-ramp from Hammond Road, and the behaviour of low-noise pavement in wet conditions, and ensured that these factors would be taken into account in addition to the other requirements of the ministry’s policy.

Predictions for operations noise—that is, road traffic on the bridge, its approaches, and the connected roadways—revealed that levels would exceed the project criteria at some residential areas. Of these locations, BKL highlighted which would qualify for noise mitigation, based on the ministry’s policy, and outlined various mitigation options.

Finally, BKL supported the design team in developing a noise barrier specification, performing noise modelling of the detailed design’s noise barrier alignments, and reviewing noise wall shop drawings.

Katzie First Nation

BKL met with Katzie First Nation and developed a separate plan for monitoring, assessing, and mitigating construction and operations noise on its lands.

BKL performed a detailed noise assessment of the contractor’s proposed construction activities on KFN lands using 3-D outdoor sound propagation software Cadna/A, including how noise might affect cultural land uses, for example, at the longhouses. BKL then performed noise monitoring at key KFN locations throughout the duration of the project.

Post-Construction Monitoring

In July 2009, with the bridge open to traffic, BKL conducted post-construction noise barrier insertion loss measurements, in accordance with American National Standards Institute (ANSI) standard S12.8, to ensure the mitigation was effective. Also, to confirm predictions completed during the Environmental Assessment Certificate (EAC) application, BKL monitored operational noise at 12 locations identified in the EAC as potentially requiring mitigation.

Project Benefits

BKL joined the Golden Ears Bridge project joint venture team early, and committed experienced consultants and equipment resources for the duration. For over four years, from bid phase to post-construction monitoring, BKL’s acoustical engineers worked closely with the client and members of public where required, including the Katzie First Nation, to monitor and assess noise; recommend solutions where needed; and, through accurate, detailed reporting, communicate the effectiveness of the solutions.

The People Behind Our Work

Our Technical Leads
Our Team

Mark Bliss

P.Eng., INCE

President

Mark Bliss, P.Eng., INCE

President

Mark Bliss is a professional engineer and member of the Institute of Noise Control Engineering (INCE), with a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from the University of British Columbia. He has practiced as an acoustical consultant since 2003.

Mark specializes in environmental noise and vibration assessment, with extensive experience evaluating transportation, industrial, construction, entertainment, commercial and other noise impacts. He has worked with all levels of government on noise policy and planning, and has appeared as an expert witness before the British Columbia Supreme Court and at municipal council hearings.

His work includes field measurement, noise modelling, mitigation assessment and detailed reporting, using national and international standards and specialized software such as Cadna/A. He has prepared Environmental Assessment Certificate applications to BCEAA, CEAA and IFC requirements, and has conducted third-party reviews and training in noise and vibration measurement and assessment.

Mark also has extensive experience in building acoustics, working on new construction and renovations to address environmental and mechanical noise, improve speech intelligibility and room acoustics, and achieve effective airborne and impact sound isolation. His work draws on CSA, ISO, ASTM, ANSI, WHO, Health Canada and other recognized standards and guidelines.
Gary Mak

P.Eng., PMP

Technical Director, Environmental Noise and Vibration

Gary Mak, P.Eng., PMP

Technical Director, Environmental Noise and Vibration

Gary Mak graduated from the University of British Columbia in 2011 with a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering and joined BKL the same year. Gary has since worked in the areas of environmental noise assessments, mechanical/industrial noise control, and architectural acoustics.

Gary’s experience in architectural acoustics includes hospitals, educational facilities, performance spaces, offices, and operations buildings. His contributions to these projects include reviewing project acoustical requirements and building designs for partition sound isolation, room acoustics, mechanical noise control, and environmental noise control. For performance venues, Gary has experience working with more advanced techniques and parameters to assess and improve acoustical conditions for performers and audiences.

Performing noise and vibration impact assessments for transportation, construction, industrial, and commercial projects, Gary has established baseline noise conditions, predicted future noise environments, rated noise impacts, and determined mitigation measures to meet project criteria. In particular, he has worked on mines, terminals, rail, transit centres, district energy centres, and other industrial and transportation projects.

Gary is proficient in performing noise and vibration measurements with a variety of specialized equipment for investigations, bylaw assessments, room acoustics, and Sound Transmission Class (STC), and Impact Insulation Class (IIC) testing. He is also very familiar with using acoustical software including Cadna/A, Samurai, Insul, EASERA, and ODEON for impact analysis and design.
Brigette Martin

P.Eng., WELL AP

Technical Director, Sound and Vibration Measurements

Brigette Martin, P.Eng., WELL AP

Technical Director, Sound and Vibration Measurements

Brigette Martin graduated from the University of Canterbury in New Zealand with a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering in 2009. Before joining BKL in 2015, Brigette worked as an acoustic consultant on various building and environmental projects throughout New Zealand and Australia.

Brigette has extensive experience with environmental noise including assessing noise impacts and designing noise mitigation for gas compressor and pump stations, power generation sites, port terminals, and transformers sites; modelling construction noise, and developing construction noise abatement and management plans; designing noise controls and preparing noise management plans for mines and quarries; and monitoring benchmark noise, developing 3-D noise models, and designing noise walls for road infrastructure projects.

In the area of building acoustics, Brigette has been involved in numerous projects and has consulted on sound insulation and mechanical services design, as well as controlling external noise intrusion and reverberation noise levels, and optimizing speech clarity for critical spaces.

Over her career, Brigette has gained experience with a wide range of technical equipment and software including Insul, SoundPLAN, Cadna/A, SONarchitect, Brüel & Kjær analyzers, and numerous other sound level meters.

Brigette has also developed and presented training courses for using acoustical software and sound level meters for acoustical engineers and clients throughout New Zealand and Australia.
Trevor Cheng

P.Eng., MIOA

Managing Specialist Acoustical Consultant

Trevor Cheng, P.Eng., MIOA

Managing Specialist Acoustical Consultant

Trevor Cheng holds a bachelor of applied science (engineering physics) from University of British Columbia and joined BKL in January 2016, with experience in environmental and architectural acoustics, as well as condition monitoring, and machine vibration analysis and diagnostics.

With BKL, Trevor has primarily been involved in transportation, commercial, industrial, and infrastructure projects. His work experience includes measuring baseline noise conditions, predicting future noise environments, assessing noise impact, and offering mitigation measures where appropriate.

Trevor also has experience in architectural acoustics, working on hospitals, performance spaces, and multipurpose buildings. He is proficient in measuring noise insulation performance, reviewing building designs, and predicting noise levels from HVAC equipment.

Prior to joining BKL, Trevor worked in London, UK, on a wide variety of projects ranging from large-scale architectural renovations to major airport improvement works. He has unique experience in measuring and assessing noise and vibration in buildings from underground rail sources.

He also has experience using sound level meters by Brüel & Kjær, Norsonic, and Larson Davis, and software tools such as Cadna/A. He is familiar with ASTC/AIIC testing and using acoustic software including Insul, SONarchitect, and EASE for indoor noise predictions.

Trevor is a member of the Institute of Acoustics (IOA) in the UK.