Presentation Overview:
Canada’s Largest Diameter Microtunnel – Calgary’s Upper Plateau Sewer Separation Project
The Northwest Inner City (NWIC) Upper Plateau Sewer Separation Project is a multi-year project designed to alleviate flooding in the inner-city community of Sunnyside in Calgary, Alberta. The project includes the implementation of a large diameter storm trunk syphon to intercept stormwater from the upslope communities, bypassing Sunnyside and discharging directly to the Bow River. Trenchless construction was deemed necessary to minimize disturbance to the community and to traverse the change in topography from McHugh Bluff at the edge of the upper plateau to the lower elevation Sunnyside community and ultimately the Bow River.
The project was designed as a single 755 m long, 3,400 mm inside diameter (ID), tunnel drive between a launch shaft near the intersection of 10 Street and 8 Avenue NW and a reception shaft near the intersection of 7 Street and Memorial Drive NW, adjacent to the Bow River. The tunnel alignment consisted of two distinct sections: a deep section beneath McHugh Bluff through Paskapoo Formation bedrock that included a crossing of the Calgary CTrain metro line and a horizontal curve, and a relatively shallow section (less than three tunnel diameters of cover) along 7 Street within Sunnyside, initially through bedrock, but ultimately transitioning into alluvial channel deposits. Construction started in November 2021 with the installation of the storm trunk syphon was completed by microtunnelling at the end of 2022. This presentation will cover the design aspects and construction of the largest diameter microtunnel completed in Canada.
Speaker Bio:
Jason Lueke, Ph.D., P.Eng., is the National Discipline Leader for Trenchless Technology at Associated Engineering and has over 24 years of experience as a consulting engineer, university professor, and construction manager. He has extensive experience in the design and construction of horizontal directional drilling, microtunnelling, and cased crossings; and the rehabilitation of pipes by pipe bursting and sliplining. Dr. Lueke has served on the Boards of the North American Society for Trenchless Technology (NASTT), the Centre for the Advancement of Trenchless Technologies (CATT) and the Executive Committee of the American Society of Civil Engineering (ASCE) Pipelines Division; currently is on the Executive Council of the Canadian Underground Innovation Centre (CUIIC), and on the Editorial Board of Trenchless Technology Magazine Canada. He has published over 80 journal and conference papers, is a recipient of ASCE’s John O. Bickel Award, ASCE’s Pipelines Division Award of Excellence, and was the inaugural recipient of NASTT’s Trent Ralston Award for Early Career Achievement in the field of Trenchless Technology.
