Pipe work in sinkhole aftermath continues
Macomb County Public Works this summer will begin work on a $13.5 million project to upgrade sewer lines in southern Clinton Township to help avoid a repeat of the 2016 collapse that caused the Fraser sinkhole.
A Public Works contractor will reinforce more than a half-mile of the Macomb Interceptor in the area of 15 Mile and Garfield roads west of the former sinkhole in the project known as “Segment 6” that will begin later this summer, with an expected groundbreaking in August, according to county Public Works officials.
Public Works Commissioner Candice Miller said in a news release the project is necessary to ensure the pipes function over the coming decades.
“We must invest in and maintain our underground infrastructure,” Miller said. “We cannot afford another sinkhole or sewer collapse. These repairs will take us into the next generation and beyond.”
The Macomb Interceptor carries the sewage flushed by more than 600,000 people in the 11 communities that comprise the Macomb Interceptor Drainage District.
The project, awarded to Ric-Man Construction of Sterling Heights, will cost less than expected as all three bids were lower than projected costs, Miller said.
“Among the three companies that bid on this project, I’m delighted that the lowest and qualified bid was from a local firm and at a significantly lower amount than engineering estimates,” said Miller, who chairs the MIDD board.
Some of the funds may come from water-and-sewer rate payers in the 11 communities but those rates are not expected to increase due to the project, officials said. MIDD municipalities include Fraser, Sterling Heights, Utica, New Haven and Clinton, Chesterfield, Harrison, Macomb, Lenox, Shelby and Washington townships.
“It is our expectation we will not have to raise rates on our rate payers,” Miller said in a video describing the project.
The county Board of Commissioners last month approved a resolution to back the full faith and credit of the county for up to nearly $30 million in bonds for the project but the amount of the issue likely will be less than half that.
The MIDD’s collection of $12.5 million from a lawsuit over the sinkhole is being used for the ongoing, $28-million “Segment 5” project in the area of 15 Mile and Schoenherr roads, west of the Segment 6 project. That has freed up some funds to help pay for Segment 6, officials said.
In addition, Public Works may receive federal dollars from the infrastructure stimulus program recently announced by President Biden, Public Works spokesman Norb Franz said.
Segment 6 will include some traffic lane closures but the road should remain open to traffic during the project, which is tentatively scheduled to start in August and completed in 2023. Segment 5 is scheduled for completion next year.
Officials said Segment 6 will include the lining of approximately 2,100 feet of the 5-foot diameter pipe along 15 Mile, east of Garfield, plus a new access shaft at the eastern end of the project.
That will be followed by the lining of a 1,200-foot curved portion of the 11-foot diameter interceptor at the intersection.
Additionally, an “air jumper” will be installed and connected to the existing bio-filter on 15 Mile to help alleviate odors that have been prevalent in the area for many years, officials said.
“It will hopefully eliminate, certainly will help in a huge way, all of the different sewer odors people have been complaining about in this region for a very long time,” Miller said.
The collapse that caused the Fraser sinkhole on 15 Mile between Utica and Hayes roads was one of the worst infrastructure failures in Michigan history, costing $75 million to repair it. The massive sewer collapse occurred 65 feet below the surface and forced the evacuation of 23 homes, including three that were condemned, two of which were eventually demolished.
Miller took office Jan. 1, 2017, days after the collapse and oversaw the excavation of a trench on 15 Mile the size of a football field, and the installation of a new, 11-foot diameter sewer line. The project was completed in less than a year.
A lawsuit filed by the MIDD over the project resulted in the $12.5 million settlement with three contractors working on the Oakland-Macomb Interceptor.
Miller ordered inspections of other parts of the interceptor.
They revealed significant corrosion of stretches that have reinforced concrete pipe, including exposure of steel rods, officials said. Extensive grouting was completed in the sewer beneath 15 Mile Road.
The Segment 5 project, which began last fall, involves contractors digging a massive 65-foot-deep shaft in the ITC corridor where workers will enter the massive sewer and install glass fiber polymer pipe to 7,000 feet of unreinforced concrete.
Going east, 1,300 feet of 8-foot diameter pipe will be spray-lined with a geo-polymer coating.
“This type of rehab work is very important. Underground infrastructure may be out of sight to many folks but it can’t be out of mind,” Miller said. “It’s like performing critical preventive maintenance on your home in order to avoid major problems.”
In a related move, a contract was awarded last December for the inspection of 26 miles of pipe and 363 manholes that are under the jurisdiction of Public Works Office.