Bearspaw South Feeder Main replacement project on schedule, City of Calgary says

The City of Calgary has provided an update on the Bearspaw South Feeder Main replacement project.

The city claims it is “on schedule” and has achieved a number of significant milestones.

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Phase 2 of Calgary’s Bearspaw feeder main construction underway

Work to replace the existing feeder main, which Mayor Jeromy Farkas has called “terminally ill,” began in late January and is scheduled to be completed by the end of 2026 — a project the city claims will normally take four years.

However, construction was fast-tracked following two catastrophic breaks in the existing feeder main.

The total cost of reinforcing the existing feeder main, including installing a new liner or “slip line” and with it a new steel pipe, parallel to the existing concrete pipe, is budgeted to cost $439 million.

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Construction is being done in stages and the city says stage A — which involves “microtunnelling” under 16 Avenue N.W at 44 Street and Home Road as well as on 29 Avenue N.W. near Sarcee Trail — is 51 per cent complete.

“It’s a two-stage process,” said the city’s general manager of infrastructure services, Michael Thompson, during a media tour of the project site Monday afternoon near Shouldice Park.

“First we tunnel a concrete pipe. You can see examples of the concrete pipe behind me. Once that’s all installed, we (will) push a steel pipe inside that concrete pipe. We’ve broken that microtunnelling into five different segments. Two of those segments are already complete.”

The shafts being dug during in the microtunnelling are about 15 to 20 metres deep.

Stage B of the project, which involved open-cut construction, also began last month on 77 Street and 83 Street N.W., between 33 and 34 Avenue N.W. and the city says all affected roadways have been paved and reopened.

The new steel pipe being used for the feeder main is expected to begin arriving in Calgary within a week and require construction of open trenches along 34 Avenue Northwest, between 79 and 80 Street and 85 to 86 Street to allow for the first sections of new steel pipe to be installed.

“We are digging up the road right down 34 Avenue — so basically we’re going to be excavating approximately from the back of the sidewalk on the north side to the back the sidewalk of the south side,” said Darren Finney, manager of the Bearspaw Feeder Main project.

The city says that despite the work being done to replace the feeder main, the old pipe could still break again at any time — and before the new feeder main is put into service, there will need to be another shutdown of the system this fall, to allow the different sections of the new pipe to be connected.

“We’re not in the clear yet, but by the end of this year we’re going to have the brand-new pipe built so we we solve this once and for all and we’re never going to be in this situation again,” said Mayor Jeromy Farkas.

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Calgary drivers trapped, work underway after another water main break 

The city has set up a community resource centre at the Bowness Community Association to help keep residents and businesses affected  construction informed about the project.

Information is also available online on the city’s website, printed notices and information letters are being delivered directly to affected homes and specific questions can be directed to the project team by calling 311 or emailing questions to bsfmproject@calgary.ca.

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