Today, at the No-Dig North Conference in Niagara Falls, ON, the North American Society for Trenchless Technology Canadian Chapters announced the 99 Avenue Sanitary Trunk Bypass project as the winner of the New Installation Project of the Year Award! An independent review panel of industry professionals evaluated all of the award submissions for their level of difficulty/project-specific challenges, innovation/unique application of the technology, advancement of the technology, and technical excellence.

The 99 Avenue Sanitary Trunk Bypass project is a hallmark of modern infrastructure development, addressing the urgent need for the rehabilitation of a critical 1.1 kilometre sanitary trunk sewer in Edmonton, AB. Spanning over three years, this two-stage project demonstrated EPCOR‘s commitment to innovation, environmental stewardship, and community engagement. The project involved the construction of a 1.6 kilometre bypass sewer using advanced microtunneling technology, allowing for the safe rehabilitation of the aging trunk sewer. The project team overcame significant technical challenges, including complex geological conditions, deep tunnel alignments, and proximity to existing infrastructure, all while minimizing community disruption and maintaining strict environmental standards.

The successful completion of the 99 Avenue Sanitary Trunk Bypass project not only enhances the resilience of Edmonton’s wastewater system, but also sets a new standard for urban infrastructure projects across North America. This project is a testament to EPCOR’s leadership in infrastructure development and their dedication to improving the quality of life for the residents of Edmonton.

Congratulations to the members of the award-winning team, representing Associated Engineering, EPCOR, Shanghai Construction Group (Canada), and Stantec!

The post North American Society for Trenchless Technology Canadian Chapters presents New Installation Project of the Year Award to 99 Avenue Sanitary Trunk Bypass first appeared on Associated Engineering.

We’re looking forward to next week’s No-Dig North, taking place in Niagara Falls, ON! Once again, we’re proud to be a supporting sponsor of Canada’s premiere conference for underground infrastructure professionals. In addition, several of our staff are involved in this year’s conference program.

Monday, October 28 | 8:00am-4:00pm EST | Room 223 | Good Practice Course: Horizontal Directional Drilling (HDD) | Speaker: Jason Lueke

The HDD Good Practices Guidelines course provides an in-depth overview of Horizontal Directional Drilling (HDD) and covers six topics: (1) operation and application; (2) equipment and materials; (3) planning, including surface and geological investigations, utility surveys, bore planning, and regulations and permitting; (4) job site safety; (5) risk reduction, troubleshooting and mitigation; and (6) design.

Tuesday, October 29 | 11:15am-11:40am EST | Room 221 | Chippewas of Nawash New Raw Water Intake Design and Construction | Speaker: Chris Lamont

The Chippewas of Nawash Unceded First Nation (CNUFN) Water Treatment Plant and Distribution System projects are multi-year projects with the objectives of constructing a new water treatment plant (WTP) and distribution system upgrades to provide clean drinking water to the community and remove the present boil water advisory. The Water Treatment Plant project includes the construction of a new greenfield site WTP, and a raw water intake located within the Georgian Bay of Lake Huron, Ontario. The focus of this paper is on the design and installation of the raw water intake pipeline shore approach by horizontal directional drilling (HDD). The intake pipeline shore approach was a 380 m long HDD installation of a product bundle consisting of one DN350 HDPE DR7.3 raw water pipe and two redundant DN125 HDPE DR7.3 casing pipes to provide a chlorine line for zebra mussel colonization control. This paper discusses some of the challenges associated with the construction of shore approach installations by HDD and considerations for designers including the importance of offshore geotechnical information, marine drill exit practices, and buoyancy control for product sinking and pullback.

Tuesday, October 29 | 1:35pm-2:00pm EST | Room 223 | Design Constraints and Construction Challenges for a 235m Microtunnel Crossing of a Highway and Creek | Speaker: Thomas Siuda

This paper will discuss the design constraints and construction challenges for the 235m trenchless crossing of Highway 400 and Dyments Creek as part of the Dunlop Street Trunk Sanitary Sewer Relocation project in the City of Barrie. The project was designed by Associated Engineering and construction was completed by Erritt Construction Ltd. The trenchless crossing was completed using microtunnel methodology featuring a pipe/tunnel size of 900mm inside diameter (1200mm outside diameter) along the 235m drive with limited cover under the highway and creek. Upstream and downstream connections along with site constraints resulted in minimal tunnel alignment and shaft staging location options, which led to constrained staging areas and limited tunnel cover. The limited cover under the highway and creek constrained the pipe/tunnel size to a 900mm inside diameter tunnel. This posed an expected challenge, as 900mm MT machines do not have pressure sensors at the face or access to the face of the machine for maintenance should unexpected ground conditions and/or boulders be within the alignment. Additionally, an unexpected challenge resulted from the change in soil material from silty sands to clays. Silty sands were expected for the entire alignment and thus the change required quick modifications on site for the equipment and bentonite viscosities. The paper will expand on the design solutions for the challenging sewer alignment options along with expected and unforeseen construction challenges and how they were overcome.

Wednesday, October 30 | 1:35pm-2:00pm EST | Room 221 | Mill Creek Combined Sewer Replacement – Design and Construction Challenges | Speaker: Chris Lamont

The Mill Creek combined sewer trunk conveys wastewater and rainwater from south Edmonton to the Gold Bar Wastewater Treatment Plant. As it is a combined system, high intensity rain fall can impact the normal operation of the system and can result in combined sewer overflows into the Millcreek Ravine. In addition, other primary sanitary trunks were inspected and assessed as high priority areas for rehabilitation due to the deteriorating condition of the existing combined sewer running within the Millcreek Ravine. The first phase of the project constitutes the design and build up a 13m×4m×4m energy dissipation chamber ~10m below the upstream existing 2100mm tunnel elevation with an access and a drop manhole structure directing the wastewater through the new, 30m deep, 2100mm ID tunnel. This part of the project successfully completed with the construction of secant pile working shaft adjacent to elementary school kids play area, construction of liner plate retrieval shaft within a compact working space in the community park and 2100mm ID concrete pipe with HDPE liner installed by Microtunnelling through sandstone and clay shale. Hand tunnel connections were completed through sandstone and clay till to connect to the new trunk on the upstream and downstream, bypassing existing overflow structures in the Millcreek Ravine.

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