The South Shore Access Project reduces Port of Vancouver traffic congestion via the construction of a
multi-span overpass for truck vehicles that provides a direct access to the Centerm Container Terminal
and segregates the major traffic from existing at-grade rail crossings. The existing road including the
portion below the new overpass was re-purposed to a 1.95 km long local access road connecting to
other industrial facilities, accessible via either end of the new overpass. The South Shore Access Project
was developed in conjunction with the Centerm Expansion Project, together providing for an increase of
67% of throughput capacity of the terminal while simultaneously reducing greenhouse gas emissions
associated with its operation.
The design of the local access road accommodated numerous site constraints including those imposed
by the new overpass and existing infrastructure, especially adjacent the historic Rogers Sugar
building. The access road (Stewart Street) in front of this building was restrained to a width for single
lane traffic only to be shared by a rail siding for the facility. This segment of road was designed with
automatic road and train signaling systems for bi-directional vehicle traffic and train use independent of
each other. Sensors, traffic lights and train gates were implemented to regulate traffic for safe passage.
At the east end of the project near the Clark Road vehicle access control gates, a roundabout was
designed to provide for 10 separate traffic movements in an efficient manner. A loop ramp was
designed at the mid-length of the road (Centennial Road) to direct terminal arrival/departure truck traffic and local traffic road usage. At the western extent, the existing East Waterfront Road was
extended to connect to West Waterfront Road providing for through access to Main Street and beyond.
This allows for all Port traffic to remain within the industrialized area and facilitated the removal of the
Heatley Overpass to the Downtown East Side.
The South Shore Access Project provides a continuous Port road from Canada Place to Highway 1 with
minimal disruption from at-grade crossings, with the reconfigured 1.95 km at-grade road maintaining
local access to all Port tenants and providing improved routing optionality. Complex geometric
modeling of the reconfigured network as well as advanced solutions such as road sensors, automated
monitoring, signalization and dynamic messaging all contribute to the enhance resulting traffic flow.
The on-terminal Centerm Expansion Project received the 2023 Canadian Consulting Engineering Award
in the Transportation Category. This paper is intended to illustrate the associated off-terminal road
enhancements that provide the necessary logistics improvements, their objectives and methodology in
detail.
