JDMA has extensive experience in the location and assessment of linear infrastructure routes. JDMA has undertaken many projects right across Canada that include the routing of power lines, pipelines, and roads. Below are more details about particular routing services.
From the early 1960s through to the 1980s JDMA staff located, terrain mapped and field inspected approximately 30,000 km of natural gas pipeline route from the Arctic to locations in southern Canada and the United States. These studies involved the integration of extensive environmental and cultural data constraining route locations and extensive field reconnaissance. JDMA have also mapped geohazards along existing pipeline routes and wetlands and terrain features indicative of corrosive conditions on high pressure gas pipelines in Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Ontario.
JDMA has been involved in the location of almost every highway in northern Saskatchewan and northern Manitoba, including the location of a northern road network connecting the communities of Whale Cove, Rankin Inlet, Chesterfield Inlet and Baker Lake, Nunavut, to destination points in northern Manitoba.
JDMA has worked on the location of an all-weather road linking northern First Nations communities along the east side of Lake Winnipeg with southern Manitoba. As part of a multidisciplinary consulting team, JDMA integrated environmental data, public consultation data and terrain information in a GIS to assist project proponents in comparing and evaluating several alternative route locations. The route selection process involved an initial wide corridor evaluation followed by more detailed mapping within preferred narrow corridors, and finally in the selection of a preferred route centreline. JDMA was responsible for route selection from satellite imagery and aerial photography as well as GIS data integration and presentation needed to facilitate public consultation. The study also entailed the use of a weighted route factor matrix to provide a quantitative means to compare different route alternatives based on terrain conditions, construction costs, alternative transportation methods, environmental factors, and social / cultural issues.
Our experience in electrical transmission line projects dates back to the late 1950s and in that time we have successfully routed transmission lines throughout northern Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Ontario as well as major lines in the Northwest Territories, the Yukon, and Newfoundland and Labrador. JDMA is currently working under contract with SaskPower’s Transmission Services department, and has completed more than three dozen high voltage transmission line projects throughout southern and northern Saskatchewan. This work includes identifying, mapping and assessing competing route alternatives, carrying out field and aerial reconnaissance of potential route options, and providing specialized support for environmental studies and stakeholder engagements. Many of these projects also include geotechnical site assessments on related facilities (such as proposed substations or switching stations), identification of potential hazards (such as slope failures at structure locations), and identification, sampling and assessment of aggregate resources (sand and gravel) within potential transmission line rights-of-way.