Dillon was honoured with the 2019 Award of Excellence for Safety Innovation, as part of the Alberta Minister’s Awards for Transportation Innovation (MATI), for the “Baseline Risk Assessment of Land Development within Proximity of Freight Rail Corridors” project on March 7th, 2019.
The City of Calgary asked Dillon and Fjord to create a standard, systematic and transparent process to identify and assess the safety risks for land development along railway corridors. Current rail proximity guidelines produced by the Federation of Canadian Municipalities and Railway Association of Canada, restrict development within 30m of a rail corridor regardless of any local context. This risked sterilizing potentially developable lands without having an understanding of the possible safety risks.
The baseline risk assessment and parcel-specific risk assessment framework developed for this project, is an evidence-based approach to assess the safety risks. It is the first of its kind in Canada. The baseline risk assessment informed the City’s Development next to Freight Rail Corridors Policy that will be used to guide development proposals in creating vibrant and safe communities along rail corridors.
We would like to extend our appreciation to the City of Calgary for their support and the vision that allowed this project to be successful, and to our partners at Fjord Consulting.