Why is an animal species like the Butler’s garter snake and a volunteer organization such as Habitat for Humanity so high on the priority list in a provincial highway demolition project? Because this isn’t the average demolition project.
For the first time in Ontario — and likely Canada — before any building is torn down, demolition crews must be trained in conservation measures such as protecting endangered species.
This includes animals like the Eastern fox snake and plants like the Kentucky coffee tree, willow leaf aster and dense blazing star.
It’s all part of the massive demolition process for the 11-kilometre, 300-hectare footprint for the Windsor-Essex Parkway, the connecting freeway that will link Highway 401 to a new bridge between Windsor and Detroit as part of the Detroit River International Crossing (DRIC).
In a permit issued to the Ministry of Transportation (MTO) under Ontario’s Endangered Species Act, such animals and plants cannot be killed, but when spotted by crews must be captured or removed to other habitats where they can thrive.
Accordingly, more than 100 people — everyone from staff of contractors to volunteers for charity organizations — have received endangered-species training. If the species are spotted, staff are trained to call in experienced naturalists to remove the animals or plants.
Habitat for Humanity is also playing a significant role because, for the first time in a major demolition, a non-profit organization is participating in salvaging materials for dozens of community organizations.
“It has to be one of the largest demolitions we’ve ever had,” said Garfield Dales, manager of project delivery for MTO’s Windsor Border Initiatives Implementation Group.
In total, some 350 buildings — the vast majority residential, with perhaps 30 or 40 commercial — have to be knocked down by early next year before major construction on the submerged and partly tunnelled highway can take place.
So far, three local demolition contractors and one from Toronto have been hired for different stages of the project. By mid-October, 112 residential and nine commercial buildings had been taken down.
The Jones Demolition Group, Canadian Group of Companies, Pillette Transfer Station and the Priestly Demolition Inc. have won tenders through MERX.
Some $800,000 worth of work has been tendered, with that figure expected to go beyond $1 million.
The companies must remove the buildings and then backfill to a grade six inches above ground. Besides screening for endangered species, crews are instructed to leave intact trees and other deciduous growth not directly in the path of buildings.
The MTO has touted the parkway as a first in Canada for the amount of tunnelling and overhead green space — including a network of parks and trails — which will be part of a highway project.
Dales said that, for the most part, trees not affected by the road depth changes or construction itself may become part of that green area. “Vegetation removal will be part of a future landscaping plan,” he said.
Meanwhile, special fencing — Geotex hammered on to two-by-four frames — has been dug into the ground to specifically prevent snakes from entering at least one area of utility work.
Altogether 900 properties, most without buildings, have to be acquired. A consortium of construction firms is expected to be chosen before the year is out.
The vast majority of acquisitions — 700 — have been by agreed settlement. But with a tight schedule and a target of acquiring and demolishing all properties by January, expropriation in several cases has begun, Dales said.
He said some buildings will be left up and will be the responsibility of the construction consortium.
The generic consortium acronym Projectco will undertake demolition for sites acquired after construction begins.