With Fulton Street looking like it suffered the effects of a moderate earthquake; the city is warning Podunkians that one of their main thoroughfares will be unavailable for at least the next two weeks.
The broken water line on Fulton, which dates back to 1914 (as does the picture left), has caused a fair amount of stability troubles underneath Fulton and a fair amount of repair is going to be required to even just patch it up to last through the winter and spring.
The fact that the pipe lasted this long is rather remarkable, but it gives fair warning that the situation is going to repeat itself over and over again around town as similarly aged waterlines finally give up the ghost and follow the lead of the Fulton street line. Which is proving to be a rather expensive failure as the estimated cost to repair the line is between 200 and 300 thousand dollars.
The broken water line on Fulton, which dates back to 1914 (as does the picture left), has caused a fair amount of stability troubles underneath Fulton and a fair amount of repair is going to be required to even just patch it up to last through the winter and spring.
The fact that the pipe lasted this long is rather remarkable, but it gives fair warning that the situation is going to repeat itself over and over again around town as similarly aged waterlines finally give up the ghost and follow the lead of the Fulton street line. Which is proving to be a rather expensive failure as the estimated cost to repair the line is between 200 and 300 thousand dollars.
The Daily featured the crumbling piece of infrastructure as its headline story in Wednesday’s paper.
(Photo above showcases City Hall circa 1914, located on Fulton Street, photo from Prince Rupert City & Regional Archives website)
BIG WATER LINE BREAK HAS DOWNTOWN FEELING SUNK
Massive rupture in pipe has caused serious damage to important roadway
By Leanne Ritchie
The Daily News
Tuesday, December 12, 2006
Pages one and three
A water main that broke underneath Fulton Street on Friday night is wrecking havoc on the pavement surface and has resulted in the closure of one of the city’s main thoroughfares.
Bob Thompson, the city’s director of engineering, said the street between Third Avenue and Sixth Avenue West will be closed for a minimum of two weeks.
“There’s a chunk of pipe with a piece out of it about three-feet long and four-feet wide,” said Thompson. “It’s a cast iron water pipe from 1914… I am guessing duct tape won’t work.”
The break occurred Friday night in the water main, right next to Annunciation School.
Professionals have been brought in to assess the break as well as plan how to deal with the damage to Fulton Street, itself, which now looks as if it were hit by an earthquake.
The pavement is rippled up and down the street. Crews have been at the scene since the weekend and the piece of broken pipe was removed yesterday.
“A lot of the road is actually shot. The substrate (the gravel underneath the road) has been pushed around by the water it’s no longer a stable base for the road,” said Thompson.
“We will somehow have to stabilize it. We are trying to figure out how we are going to do that this winter. It’s not the best time for paving or anything like that, it’s supposed to snow at the end of the week.”
Weather will play a role in how long it takes to repair the road surface.
“We don’t have all the answers to the questions right now.”
The break in the Fulton line was the third in the city on Friday. Two other breaks were reported - one on India and the other Graham. The Fulton Street line is a 12 inch line, considered a pretty large main, which services downtown. When the Fulton main went “it started messing with the hydraulics of the whole system,” said Thompson.
“By sheer luck this part of the line didn’t service too many residences. There was just one apartment building we gave temporary water service to on the corner of Fulton and Sixth.
As for the cost of the damage currently the city is talking anywhere between $200,000 and $300,000.
“It could be less if we are lucky. Until we get the pavement off we won’t really know what the damage is underneath. It’s changed even since I was here Saturday night, it’s more sunk,” said Thompson yesterday.
“Once it starts to freeze in the winter, it’s just going to play havoc with it. It depends when we can get to fix it, it’s pretty much weather dependent.”
Most of the lines in the city are looped so if the water shuts down from one side, I fees in from the other end. Water in to downtown is still coming through from the other end of the loop.
“But we still need this main. It’s not something that can be eliminated that’s for sure,” said Thompson.
In a report to council last year, city staff noted that 10 per cent of the city’s water lines are more than 80 years old – they need to be replaced and could fail at any time.
Another 14 per cent are 75 years or older and badly need of replacement. Meanwhile, 32 per cent of the city’s system is less than 35 years old, and considered.
BIG WATER LINE BREAK HAS DOWNTOWN FEELING SUNK
Massive rupture in pipe has caused serious damage to important roadway
By Leanne Ritchie
The Daily News
Tuesday, December 12, 2006
Pages one and three
A water main that broke underneath Fulton Street on Friday night is wrecking havoc on the pavement surface and has resulted in the closure of one of the city’s main thoroughfares.
Bob Thompson, the city’s director of engineering, said the street between Third Avenue and Sixth Avenue West will be closed for a minimum of two weeks.
“There’s a chunk of pipe with a piece out of it about three-feet long and four-feet wide,” said Thompson. “It’s a cast iron water pipe from 1914… I am guessing duct tape won’t work.”
The break occurred Friday night in the water main, right next to Annunciation School.
Professionals have been brought in to assess the break as well as plan how to deal with the damage to Fulton Street, itself, which now looks as if it were hit by an earthquake.
The pavement is rippled up and down the street. Crews have been at the scene since the weekend and the piece of broken pipe was removed yesterday.
“A lot of the road is actually shot. The substrate (the gravel underneath the road) has been pushed around by the water it’s no longer a stable base for the road,” said Thompson.
“We will somehow have to stabilize it. We are trying to figure out how we are going to do that this winter. It’s not the best time for paving or anything like that, it’s supposed to snow at the end of the week.”
Weather will play a role in how long it takes to repair the road surface.
“We don’t have all the answers to the questions right now.”
The break in the Fulton line was the third in the city on Friday. Two other breaks were reported - one on India and the other Graham. The Fulton Street line is a 12 inch line, considered a pretty large main, which services downtown. When the Fulton main went “it started messing with the hydraulics of the whole system,” said Thompson.
“By sheer luck this part of the line didn’t service too many residences. There was just one apartment building we gave temporary water service to on the corner of Fulton and Sixth.
As for the cost of the damage currently the city is talking anywhere between $200,000 and $300,000.
“It could be less if we are lucky. Until we get the pavement off we won’t really know what the damage is underneath. It’s changed even since I was here Saturday night, it’s more sunk,” said Thompson yesterday.
“Once it starts to freeze in the winter, it’s just going to play havoc with it. It depends when we can get to fix it, it’s pretty much weather dependent.”
Most of the lines in the city are looped so if the water shuts down from one side, I fees in from the other end. Water in to downtown is still coming through from the other end of the loop.
“But we still need this main. It’s not something that can be eliminated that’s for sure,” said Thompson.
In a report to council last year, city staff noted that 10 per cent of the city’s water lines are more than 80 years old – they need to be replaced and could fail at any time.
Another 14 per cent are 75 years or older and badly need of replacement. Meanwhile, 32 per cent of the city’s system is less than 35 years old, and considered.
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