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Back to work for South Trunk

Work has begun again on the South Trunk Sewer project, put on hold in the fall of last year due to weather and project concerns.
37098smithersSouthTrunk
Work is underway again on the South Trunk Sewer project. With this restart

Work has begun again on the South Trunk Sewer project, put on hold in the fall of last year due to weather and project concerns.

The contractor, Western Industrial Contractors, was having problems with tunnelling a hole for the concrete-made pipe to go through under the Highway 16 and 16 Avenue intersection by Canadian Tire. As it was nearing fall, the project was put on hold while the contractor took our situation under further consideration.

However with a small project modification the project should be completed by October 2011, Director of Development Services Mark Allen said.

Last week all the back filled materials placed by Canadian Tire was moved to the Frontage Road as crews prepare to install the new pipe.

"It's going to be steel pipe instead of the concrete," Allen said.

Other than modifying the connection from concrete to steel pipe, the project wasn't changed overly much, Allen said, and its price tag will remain at the forecasted $2.4 million.

"The budget hasn't really been affected at this point," Allen said.

The steel pipe will be bored under the highway in a manner similar to vertical pile driving, except horizontally.

The edge of the pipe will be hammered under the highway. As no surface trenching is in the books for the plan, traffic patterns should remain undisturbed throughout the project, Allen said, which is what they've planned all along.

Once the storm sewer is completed, the contractor and the town-hired consultant Opus, Dayton and Knight will be performing tests to ensure the system is fully functional before its commissioned into full operation.