High River/MD of Foothills – Floodway Relocation Program

June 2013 floods in parts of southern Alberta caused billions of dollars in damage. In High River, entire neighbourhoods remained underwater for weeks. The Beachwood subdivision on the southwest corner of the town was considered too much at risk to rebuild.

Following an auction of the structures appropriate to move to new locations, hazardous materials abatement was conducted on the unsold houses. Demolition included houses, garages, and outbuildings. Site restoration consisted of backfill, grading, topsoil, and seed.

Environmental Sustainability:

During the 2013 flood, an attempt was made to bulldoze a berm on the perimeter of the subdivision to minimize flooding from the Highwood River. The attempt was unsuccessful and left behind a large pile of material that required cleanup. Instead of mobilizing equipment to load and haul away the marginal soil mixed with trees and organics, Visco screened the material and used the clean fill for backfill on the project. Demolition of the foundations and hardscape generated a large pile of concrete, which was processed on site with a mobile crusher into recycled concrete aggregate that was sold locally.

The reuse of the marginal site material and on-site concrete crushing significantly reduced heavy truck traffic through the town and lowered emissions.