Tunnels

Tunnels transform transportation networks by linking nations, uniting communities, and reducing travel time. Water and wastewater tunnels make modern hygiene and sanitation standards possible. Utility tunnels bring us our electricity, telephone, internet, and gas pipelines, enabling us to power our lives. Underground spaces contribute to our transit networks, our energy reserves, and our scientific research. Tunnel design and construction requires a wide range of engineering skills to deliver innovative solutions.

Bringing together all required disciplines under one roof, WSP is a world leader in tunnel planning, design, rehabilitation, and construction. From pre-feasibility, through fire and risk engineering and ventilation systems, to post-maintenance, we offer in-depth expertise throughout the tunnel lifecycle.

Our hands-on experience includes all types of tunnels—rock, soft ground, cut-and-cover, immersed tunnels, micro/trenchless, and the New Austrian tunnelling/sequential excavation method. Our engineers have worked on a wide variety of underground construction projects around the globe, from road tunnels and subway stations, to underground nuclear waste repositories and water conveyance systems.

On all projects, WSP builds teams that exceed expectations, develop solutions through dialogue and creativity and the ability to look beyond the obvious in cost and value optimization. Our spirit of achievement has been nurtured through our partner-driven approach, ensuring that we deliver the best value, from inception to completion. We accomplish this through the implementation of innovative, straight forward solutions, bringing together our lessons learned from an extensive portfolio of major projects. The result is a reputation for design excellence and industry-leading expertise.

We provide comprehensive services for every aspect of the construction of tunnels and underground projects, including tunnel design, ground improvement, initial and final support, instrumentation and monitoring, tunnel systems, and ventilation/fire life safety aspects. Our expertise provides support across an entire project, from feasibility, to design, to construction management, to testing and commissioning. We also provide condition assessments, rehabilitation, re-purposing, and upgrading of tunnels and underground transportation facilities.

Tunnels begin with ground investigation, because accurate surveys are the best way to prevent surprises and delays further down the road. Our geotechnical experts have dedicated years not only to the practice, but also to research in order to continuously build upon our understanding of ground behavior during excavation. The result is an unparalleled breadth of acumen that continues to improve our ability to construct underground facilities without disturbing existing facilities and utilities, to ensure that our work doesn’t impact the surrounding area.

Our design teams work extensively with the latest technologies, including numerical modeling of ground/structure interaction, BIM and VDC. This allows us to perfect schematics in virtual reality, allowing problems to be rectified before ground is broken and reducing the likelihood of surprises arising during construction that can cause delays, extra costs, or damage to surrounding structures.

Our wide-ranging expertise in rail, roads, and aviation means that we understand tunnels from all sides of the project, resulting in a holistic approach to their design and construction.