The project aims to relieve some of the sewer surcharging on Redwood, near Avon Belden, and on Lake Road, along with infiltration problems plaguing the city’s sanitary sewers.

Due to the close proximity of the existing storm sewer and various water and gas utilities to dense urban areas, the Avon Lake Municipal Utilities (ALMU) chose the trenchless method to ensure residential traffic was not hindered.

The close proximity to utility poles also made pipe bursting a beneficial way to perform infrastructure rehabilitation, and it was estimated to be 30–45 per cent cheaper than open cut trenching.

Pre-construction inspections undertaken by Cleveland’s Great Lake Pipeline Services revealed many signs of deterioration. These included broken and cracked pipes, dislocated joints and root infiltration.

Article continues below…

Light-coloured replacement pipes were chosen for the ability to easily perform post-CCTV inspection of the newly installed sewer pipe.

Contractors Utilicon Corp and TT Technologies began replacing the old vitreous clay pipe sewer line on Bellaire Road in July.

At first, approximately 320 ft of high-density polyethylene seamless piping were installed by pipe bursting from manhole to manhole in about two hours.

The polyethylene pipe was fitted with a conical shaped head and cutter, and attached to a hydraulic winch. The cutter cracked and split the old pipe as the winch pulled the new pipe into position.

Nearing the end of July, crews had installed approximately one-third of Bellaire’s new sewer line and connected six home laterals, in spite of heavy rain.

By 5 August 2011, approximately 934 ft of new sewer pipe was installed and workers connected ten home laterals.

A total of 5,152 ft of sewer pipes will be renewed when the project is completed, which is expected to be late August.

The $US1.58 million rehabilitation is the fourth pipe bursting project undertaken by ALMU.