West Humber River Trail Storm Sewer Rehabilitation
Located within Humber Gate Park, a gateway to the Humber Recreational Trail System, and within the Toronto Regional Conservation Area, this storm sewer project presented significant challenges and opportunities. The storm sewer is designed to collect stormwater and melting snow for discharge into the Humber River. Over the years, the storm sewer had significantly deteriorated. The original plans provided by the City of Toronto required a road cut to install the bypass system for the project. However, a road cut would have created traffic control issues, the need to dig up a freshly paved road, resulting in potential residential complaints and increasing the cost to complete the project.
The team developed a bypass plan utilizing a partial bulkhead in the storm sewer immediately upstream of the section to be rehabilitated. Using a spray applied geopolymer mortar lining, the Michels crew structurally rehabilitated 165m of the 2900mm x 1825mm corrugated steel pipe-arch storm sewer. The quick cure time of the geopolymer mortar allowed for flow to be returned to the storm sewer shortly after application, during non-working hours.
The geopolymer sprayed-in-place-pipe (SIPP) mortar lining was an ideally suited reinforcement solution to the arch shaped sewer pipe. The existing pipe was used as a form for the new SIPP application. The dry geopolymer powder necessary to complete this project was 245,000kg (540,000 pounds).
In summary, Michels Canada presented a value-added engineering solution to the City of Toronto that was:
- Accomplished during non-working hours
- Removed the need for the road cut
- Realized significant cost savings
- Completed without the removal of any trees; a significant environmental benefit
- Minimized construction impact to the neighborhood residents and park
- Finished ahead of the contractual deadline
