The Premarc Corporation - Success Stories - The Garfield Interceptor Tunnel

The Garfield Interceptor Tunnel

Macomb County - Teamwork, dedication and determination brought the installation of a new gravity sewer line to Northern Macomb County, Michigan. Thirty years of planning and design went into the creation of the new Romeo Arm Interceptor. Along the way, funding issues, methane gases and boulders left behind from the last ice age were all hurdles that had to be overcome. When the project is completed in December of 2002, three miles of new 84-inch gravity sewer buried 40 feet under the ground will have replaced three miles of 24-inch force main. The new gravity sewer along with two new metering facilities will provide service for Shelby, Macomb and Washington Townships located in Macomb County.

The completion of this project will provide many benefits to the communities. Wastewater from Shelby, Washington and Macomb Townships will now flow to Detroit Water and Sewerage Department's main trunk line by gravity instead of by pumping, thus providing energy savings and lower operational costs. The new gravity system will have considerably more capacity to service the Northern Macomb County area and its predicted future build-out population. Odor problems produced by the old force main system will now be reduced if not completely eliminated. Most importantly, with less maintenance and the elimination of pump power outages, there will be reduced potential for system failure resulting in sewer backups and/or overflows.

The Romeo Arm of the Detroit Water & Sewerage Department's sanitary sewer system was initiated in the early 1970's as part of a program to provide sanitary sewer services to communities in Oakland and Macomb Counties. In 1974, three miles of 24-inch force main and a new pump station at the corner of 21 Mile and Garfield Road in Macomb County were designed. This pressurized system served the rural areas of Macomb, Washington and Shelby Townships. However, continued growth in these communities soon started to overburden the system. Storm water inflow and groundwater infiltration added to sanitary flows soon exceeded the capacity of the present pump station.

The engineering firm of Spalding DeDecker had designed the pump station and three miles of 24-inch force main in 1947. With a successful spanning of nearly half a century, Spalding DeDecker Associates, Inc. (SDA) has grown from a two-person firm specializing in civil engineering and surveying to an employee-owned, multi-disciplinary, engineering consulting and surveying enterprise. SDA employs over 100 staff members and specializes in land development, municipal engineering, transportation engineering, surveying, mapping and specialized services. When it was time to upgrade the system Spalding DeDecker's services and expertise were called on once again.

Preliminary design of the Romeo Arm Interceptor was initiated in 1966 with a study for the Macomb County Office of Public Works commission. This study considered various routes and methods of construction that would be allowed along the three miles of this project. Estimates of future growth were also taken into consideration during this study. Tunneling and possible open cut trenches would not be feasible for this project due to excessive depths, environmental impact on the roadway, costs of relocating existing utilities and the negative impact on residential and business development in the area.

Detailed design of this project was started in 1997. Soil Borings were taken along the route to determine soil types, aquifers, soil densities and areas of gases that might be a problem. A detail survey was performed throughout the three miles of the project to determine surface structures, utilities and existing elevations of the surface. Due to the heavy concentration of utilities on each side of the five-land road, it was decided the alignment of the sewer was determined based on the flow requirements, the depth of the existing sewer at 18 Mile Road and the required elevation to meet existing sewers at 21 Mile Road.

The overall project cost for the new sewer and meter stations is over $23 million. Initial planning was done under the assumption the project would be owned and operated by the Macomb County Office of Public Works Commission. Through negotiations between Detroit Water & Sewerage Department (DWSD) and the Macomb County Office of Public Works, an agreement was reached for DWSD to own and maintain the interceptor with separate meters for Macomb and Shelby Township at 21 Mile Road.

Construction for this project began in July of 2000. Jay Dee Contractors, Inc., headquartered in Livonia, Michigan was contracted to do the work. Established in 1965, Jay Dee Contractors, Inc., specializes in heavy underground construction. Over the years, Jay Dee has earned a reputation in the industry for quality performance. Jay Dee Contractors has a large repertoire of expertise in tunnel construction. To date, Jay Dee has completed over 570,000 linear feet of tunnels in a variety of soil conditions, including soft ground and hard rock. Jay Dee is experienced in all methods of tunnel construction and is recognized as a pioneer in the jack pipe tunneling method. Combining a highly skilled staff, technical expertise and extensive field experience, Jay Dee Contractors was the logical choice for this project.

Construction of the Garfield Interceptor required tunneling 16,108 feet of 84-inch reinforced concrete pipe 40-feet beneath the heavily traveled Garfield Road. Superior joints, competitive prices, as well as the ability to provide on-time deliveries prompted Jay Dee Contractors to choose the Premarc Corporation from Durand, Michigan as the preferred supplier of the reinforced concrete pipe is the assurance of a soil and watertight joint. Grinding the groove for the rubber gasket joint of reinforced concrete pipe after it has cured is one way to guarantee joint performance. The Premarc Corporation is Michigan's largest precast concrete pipe manufacturer and the only manufacturer in Michigan to grind all of their pipe joints for sanitary installations ensuring a soil and watertight joint.

Through the use of diamond-tipped grinding wheels, Premarc is able to produce exact dimensional tolerance during the manufacturing of the gasket seating surface thus creating dimensional control over the pipe joint and diminishing the sensitivity of the pipe joint during installation. As Mike DiPonio, Vice President of Jay Dee Contractors stated, "The Premarc Company manufactured the precast concrete pipe for this project. The pipe they supplied was the best quality pipe that I've ever worked with and it should provide excellent service to the Macomb area for many decades".

The 84-inch sanitary sewer was constructed by tunneling through difficult soil conditions approximately 40 feet beneath the surface. The soil conditions were the result of glaciers that covered the region and retreated at the end of the last ice age some 8 to 10 thousand years ago. The glaciers left behind compressed clay soils nearly as hard as concrete, layers of fine sands that charged with water under pressure, pockets of soft sticky clays and occasional boulders which had to be blasted to gravel for removal.

Underlying bedrock in the tunneling area was a source of natural gas deposits that had migrated over time into sand deposits. These methane gas pockets had to be vented during tunnel construction to prevent the possibility of fire or explosion. Navigating over three drain crossings including the Gloede and Utica Drains also added to the complexity of the project.

All of this work was performed with minimum disruption to surface activities. Neighborhood traffic totaling 40,000 to 50,000 vehicles per day limited construction during rush hours. A considerable amount of effort was employed to coordinate the surface work activities with the local communities to minimize the disruptions to businesses and residences along the project route. This included the relocation of the project staging area from a congested site at 18 Mile Road to a more remote location. While this reduced the impact of the construction activities of the project to the general public, it required two miles of the project to be tunneled downhill. This direction is the most challenging to a contractor when tunneling through water bearing soils.

In an effort to minimize the impact of construction on local traffic and businesses, tunnel alignment was adjusted to the center of Garfield Road. This enabled access manholes to be built within the center left-turn lane, which minimized traffic congestion. The location of each individual access manhole was coordinated with representatives of the local businesses so that customer access to these businesses was not impacted.

When final construction of the new interceptor is complete in December 2002, the residents and businesses in Northern Macomb County will have a sanitary sewer system that will service them for many years to come. During ribbon cutting ceremonies on October 1, 2002, many of the stakeholders from the project were present to see the fruition of all their hard work. A boulder pulled from the tunnel during construction was given to Macomb County. On the boulder was a plaque which stated the sentiments of all parties involved with this project: "This boulder is but one of many impediments that were overcome by the determination and teamwork of the men and women who built the Romeo Arm Interceptor Tunnel on Garfield Road".

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