The Black River Culvert is a corrugated steel pipe (CSP) culvert running under Highway 11 near Bouctouche, NB. Inspections carried out by the New Brunswick Department of Transportation and Infrastructure (NBDTI) revealed significant structural degradation, including corrosion, failure of bolted joints, and bulges on the inner surface of the culvert. By 2017, concerns were raised that this degradation would result in total collapse of the structure and a significant risk to public safety. NBDTI made plans to replace the structure.

As part of their commitment to public safety, NBDTI also developed an interim risk management strategy. SHM Canada was selected to support this strategy by monitoring the culvert’s stability with a Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) system. Our team installed sensors at critical locations on the structure, and configured the system to acquire real-time data and to send warning emails to key personnel when parameters exceeded safe limits. This data provided a clear picture of the structure’s increasing distress and enabled the owner to protect the public by diverting highway traffic to a detour road until the replacement structure could be completed.