Century old sewers in Windsor's Sandwich Town will receive $8.5-million in repairs.
On Thursday, the city announced work on 3.5 km of sewers beneath Sandwich Street from the round-a-bout at Rosedale Avenue to Ojibway Parkway is underway.
An estimated $12-million in surface improvements to the stretch of road are planned to start at the end of 2021 that will be paid for under the community improvement plan for the Gordie Howe International Bridge (GHIB), but the city is responsible for what's below street level.
"We have to make sure that the 100-year-old sewers are underneath that road are in adequate condition so that the road construction, which will be done by others, can proceed without any incident," added City Engineer Mark Winterton.
Winterton says the sewer improvements are the first step towards a complete transformation of Sandwich Street by the end of 2022.
"That's 3.5 km of road reconstruction, which is significant. It will be basically throughout the whole right of way," says Winterton. "You're going to see new road, bike lanes, new sidewalks and some streetscaping improvements. On the surface it will be brand new."
Winterton says the relining process uses existing infrastructure to view pipes with cameras; a lining is then inserted into weak points with a resin that hardens to form what is essentially a new pipe that can last up to 50-years.
"The work is going to be done through trenchless technology, and while they'll be setting up over manholes as their entry point to the sewers, we're not going to t be digging up the road at this time except in small isolated instances," he says.
Work is expected to have minimal impact on traffic and will wrap up by September of 2021, according to Winterton.
— with files from AM800's Kristylee Varley.