Articles
A Monumental Rehabilitation
Emergency sewer rehabilitation project protects nation’s historical buildings
With its dome reaching high into the sky, the U.S. Capitol building radiates power, patriotism and everlasting strength. It’s clear from one look at this most symbolically important building that it receives ongoing maintenance and restoration. Unfortunately, the same care is not given beneath the Capitol’s surface where old sewer pipes made of brick and wood are showing significant signs of history, aging with decay from the ongoing flow of rainwater and raw sewage.
2020 Project of the Year Rehabilitation: Guam Northern Interceptor Sewer Rehabilitation
The Island of Guam provided a tropical and scenic backdrop to an impressive and challenging ultraviolet cured-in-place pipe (UV CIPP) project. In all, 44,000 lf of sewer were rehabilitated — ahead of schedule — as crews managed logistical and planning challenges, as well as working in conditions that included the early stages of a global pandemic.
2018 Project of the Year Rehabilitation Honorable Mentions
Emergency 30-in. Force Main Replacement
North Area Interceptor Phase 9
Michels was the general contractor on a large-scale project to rehabilitate nearly a mile of deteriorating high-capacity regional sanitary sewer facilities that serve Fridley, Spring Lake Park, Coon Rapids and Blaine — the northwestern suburbs of the St. Paul-Minneapolis, Minnesota, metropolitan area.
The project included constructing a temporary conveyance system to maintain wastewater services throughout the duration of the project. The system consisted of three 30-in. sections of HDPE, each totaling 5,100 ft, to convey an average daily flow of 25,000 gpm of effluent and a peak flow of 52,000 gpm. Seven pumps were also installed on the system. Cured-in-place pipe (CIPP) liners were installed to rehabilitate 3,866 lf of massive 96-in. (8-ft) diameter pipe and 90 ft of 72-in. diameter pipe. The 96-in. CIPP segments were completed in four installations that varied in thickness from 25.5 mm to 34.5 mm and in length from 700 ft to 1,180 ft. Both 72-in. installations were 19.5 mm thick and 45 ft in length. The 96-in. segments were the largest diameter CIPP project Michels has completed, and included a substantial amount of work during Minnesota’s harsh winters.
The project also included rehabilitation of a meter station and manholes. There were eight 72-in. to 120-in. fiber reinforced polymer and concrete manholes installed on the project to replace existing manholes. Due to their large diameter and weight of resin, the CIPP liners were wet out over the hole (OTH) rather than being impregnated off site and transported to the job site. This required trucks to haul 730,000 lbs of resin to the site on days of installation.