The sewer tunnel
That swallowed a backhoe will be upgraded.
The ailing 148-year-old sewage tunnel at the root of the sinkhole that swallowed a backhoe on Ste-Catherine St. last summer is scheduled to receive extensive restorative surgery.
Montreal’s executive committee Wednesday approved a $2.8-million contract to Clean Water Works Inc. for the “rehabilitation” of the oval-shaped brick tunnel measuring 60 centimetres by 90 centimetres (24 inches by 36 inches) running below SteCatherine St. from Atwater Ave. to Mansfield St., a distance of 1.7 kilometres. The tunnel was installed between 1876 and 1922, and recent camera inspections showed several sections were in “an advanced state of deterioration.”
The Aug. 5 cave-in of a section of roadway at the corner of Ste-Catherine and Guy Sts. that took in a backhoe “put in evidence the necessity to intervene so that a similar situation did not reoccur,” the city said.
To minimize impact to traffic and businesses on the city’s main commercial artery, the city has opted to use a relatively new technology that doesn’t involve tearing up the roadway. A type of felt or polyester sleeve, soaked in resin, is inserted into the damaged pipe then inflated with water or air pressure so that it adheres to the walls of the tunnel. Then hot water or steam is inserted, which cures the resin, forming a solid mass lining the walls of the sewage tunnel projected to last 50 to 70 years.
The process is faster, 75 per cent cheaper and much less intrusive than the usual system of opening the street to extract the old pipe and insert a new one, a city spokesman, Philippe Sabourin, said. Much of the work, which will start in February and be completed by May, will be done at night to avoid interfering with traffic or commerce. Reopening Montreal’s largest water reservoir: Also Wednesday, Montreal’s execu- tive committee authorized the awarding of a $72-million contract to les Entreprises Michaudville Inc. to begin work to reopen the Rosemont reservoir, the largest water reservoir in Montreal. Built in 1960, it was put out of service a few years later because its configuration didn’t allow it to operate properly. The reopening of the reservoir, slated for 2017, will increase the city’s water reserves by 40 per cent and alleviate the risk of water shortages. The first phase in the restoration involves tunnelling 12 stories underground for a distance of four kilometres from the reservoir, located in Parc Étienne-Desmarteau in Hochelaga-Maisonneuve, to hook up with the city’s water lines at Notre-Dame St. A pipe seven feet in diameter will be laid. The work will start in February and is slated to finish in August 2016. Other work that needs to be carried out includes the repair of the pumping station, reservoir itself and other piping systems. Economic development division: The city of Montreal announced Wednesday it is creating a new economic development division and a new post of general director of the department to “assure leadership in economic development” and create a sustainable strategic vision and better co-ordination among groups in that field. The new division will be created from existing resources at city hall, city officials said. Auto-sharing services scrutinized: Montreal’s standing committee on transport has been mandated to study the effects of auto-sharing services in the city, a Bixitype of model that allows clients to use cars for short periods of time anywhere around the city. In particular, it will look at how the services, operated by Communauto and Car2Go in some boroughs, affect taxi services, and formulate a policy on auto-sharing in the city of Montreal. Mayor Denis Coderre has criticized the auto-sharing concept in the past, saying it could harm the taxi industry. To see a YouTube video on how Ste-Catherine St.’s decrepit brick tunnel will be repaired by injecting a polyester membrane, go to bit. ly/17U5B29