July 2019 Vol.74 No. 7
Features
CIPP Under a Golf Course
Despite Ongoing Rehab Work, Golfers Never Miss a Tee Time
Plano, Texas, embarked on a mission in 2015 to rehabilitate more than three miles of reinforced concrete pipe (RCP) after a condition assessment had shown deterioration due to corrosion from H2S (hydrogen sulfide) sewer gas.
The pipeline is in proximity to the White Rock Creek and Prairie Creek areas in the Trinity River watershed. Roughly half of the lines also ran through Gleneagles Country Club, which is considered one of the top golf courses in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. Rehabilitation was necessary to prevent failure of the critical line segment, especially since failure would require tearing up the golf course to fix the pipeline.
The city partnered with engineering firm Halff & Associates to design a solution to the pipe corrosion problem. Halff recommended cured-in-place pipe (CIPP) rehabilitation to repair the existing wastewater lines. Other options, such as sliplining, were also considered. Sliplining was ruled out due to the amount of flow capacity that would be lost as a result of a large reduction in the inside diameter. In addition, the number of bends in the pipeline were not ideal for a sliplining solution.
Shahrzad Tavana, senior engineer with the city of Plano, explained that “we chose CIPP due to the minimal disruption it would cause to the environmentally sensitive White Rock Creek area.”
As low bidder on the project, Insituform was chosen in August 2016 to do the work using its flagship CIPP process. Insituform is the originator of the CIPP process, with its first installation taking place in the UK in 1971.
“We felt comfortable choosing Insituform as the contractor based on its longevity in the industry and recommendations from neighboring municipalities,” Tavana added.
Project overview
According to the city, the work was performed at two locations generally identified as White Rock Creek and Prairie Creek after the two nearby creeks. The White Rock Creek portion of the job ran from Spring Creek Parkway to Plano Parkway and consisted of approximately 16,300 feet of 24- to 36-inch sanitary sewer interceptor.
Adjacent to this first portion was 1,000 feet of an 18-inch sewer main running parallel to Plano Parkway, 450 feet of 15-inch sewer main and another 150 linear feet of 15-inch sewer main. The Prairie Creek portion of the project consisted of approximately 2,500 feet of 21-inch sewer main located along the banks of Prairie Creek continuing downstream. In total, the project included 19,984 feet of sewer main rehabilitation.
About half of the project ran directly through the very exclusive Gleneagles Country Club. Work running through the club’s 36-hole golf course brought several challenges. First, two special access roads had to be built for equipment access in order to prevent damage to the greens and fairways. Additionally, most of the work had to be done within a six-month period due to the requirements of the golf course.
Other tricky setups included non-conventional pipe dispersion structures running under a drainage channel and location of manholes next to tee-boxes on the golf course. The clean and TV (CCTV) company, Nezat Training, cleaned up to 5,000 feet at a time directly next to the golf course without having to be on the premises.
In addition to the challenges presented by work on the golf course, the contractor also had to deal with three separate HOA groups, work delays due to rain and had to coordinate with a North Texas Municipal Water District Lift station.
Insituform received a notice to proceed on Oct. 25, 2016, with an agreement that the work would be done within 300 calendar days. The golf course work could only be done during the off-season from November to February, with allowances for restoration and other minor items up through March and April. The contractor completed the rest of the work within the allowed timeframe by mid-2017.
Before the work could proceed, the line had to be completely bypassed. Running straight through the golf course, the bypass was anchored off next to the creek in order to keep it out of the fairway. Bypass work was done by Maverick Pump.
Once the bypass was setup, the CIPP tubes were wet-out at an Insituform facility in McGregor, Texas. The tubes
were kept in a refrigerated truck for the two-hour drive to prevent premature exotherm and delivered straight to the
job site for installation.
Accessibility on the job site was the primary issue for completing the job in the allowable time and making sure that all stakeholder concerns were addressed. In addition to access roads capable of supporting fully loaded 18-wheel tractor trailers, the contractor had to build a scaffold system from an adjacent road off the side of a bridge at two separate locations due to limited access. This helped the crew perform an installation on a concrete-lined drainage channel on the golf course, as well as an installation off a bridge adjacent to one of the busiest streets in Plano. Another installation shot required manhole access in a bunker on the 18th green of the Queens Course.
Gleneagles Golf Club was playable for the entire project duration. Minimal restoration of the golf course was required and performed by a subcontractor that had developed a working relationship with the golf course over the years. The city of Plano and Gleneagles Golf Club were pleased with the effort provided by the engineer and contractor to minimize adverse impacts during construction.
The entirety of the project was completed in 22 separate installation shots, most of which used the traditional water inversion and water-cure installation process. Four of the lines were rehabilitated using Insituform’s air-inversion steam-cure (AISC) method to help cut down on water usage and provides a quicker cure for shorter segments.
Many of the shots measured more than 1,000 feet in length, and the longest installation on the project ran more than 1,500 feet. Rehabilitation of the access manholes using CIPP was performed concurrently with the Insituform CIPP installations by Infrastructure Rehab USA out of Shreveport, Louisiana.
Conclusion
The project was completed ahead of schedule by mid-summer 2017. The bypass was removed, and the lines were back in service shortly thereafter. The success of this project was predicated on the ability to manage risk associated with providing the appropriate rehabilitation method, along with sufficient installation access while mitigating impact in a difficult golf course location.
The project is a prime example of the benefits that can be realized, even on difficult projects, when the owner, engineer and contractor work together throughout all phases.
Tony Almeida, P.E., Halff & Associates added, “The project challenges were unique, but what amazed me was how all of the stakeholders on this project came together in a spirit of cooperation to make this project a success.” •
FOR MORE INFORMATION:
Halff & Associates, (214) 346-6200, halff.com
Insituform, (636) 530-8000, aegion.com/about/our-brands/Insituform
Nezat Training, (281)788-5221, nezat.com
Infrastructure Rehab USA, (888) 277-5485, irehabusa.com
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