Enviro Span can be used in permanent. semi-permanent and temporary applications. Enviro Span is extremely easy to install due to its very light weight, ease of handling, and elimination of cumbersome footings and fasteners for assembly. It is a clear span that requires minimal or no site preparation in temporary (or even semi-permanent) crossings. Sensitive fish bearing and fish contributing streams can be crossed in any season as no excavation either in-stream or on stream banks is required for most crossings. Heavy equipment is at no time required to cross through the stream as all of the work can be done from one side until the fill is sufficient to cross over. Envirospan modules come as either straight or angled pieces, designed to follow the natural curves of a stream without requiring channelization. Since it is modular, a crossing can be made as narrow or wide as is needed without any custom sizing. Standard resource extraction road crossings can be completed from start to fully loaded truck traffic in as little as 3 hours
The new materials technology used in Enviro Span will handle as much or more static and dynamic loading as a competing older style culvert. Perhaps more importantly, the inherent viscoelasticity of the material and use of compliant footings, will adapt when a road fill shifts or settles and places new stresses upon the structure. In conditions where older culvert materials often fail, Enviro Span will interact dynamically with the fill (forming a composite soil arch) and simply readjust, somewhat like “smart” material technology. This property also allows Enviro Span arches to be placed under much deeper fills or to respond positively to soil movements (such as settling, frost heaving, or earthquakes) than culverts made of older and stiffer materials
Both the design and the material (a type of engineering thermoset resin) performed above expectations and far exceeded current North American standards (both Canada and the USA) for load bearing capacity. Finite Element Analysis (FEA) for a live load rating of L150 (BC 150 imperial ton 5-axle configuration) using .91 metres (36 inches) of un-compacted fill results indicated combined stresses from axial thrust and bending moment that are within Canadian Bridge Code limits for all wheel loading cases examined.