Failing BX Creek culvert at 42nd Avenue (photo credit: City of Vernon)

By Kevin Rothwell

New trenchless technology to be employed

Dollars flowing to fix aging Vernon culverts

May 14, 2021 | 5:00 AM

Culverts that cover kilometers of both Vernon and BX Creeks as they wind their way under the streets of Vernon are going to take hundreds of thousands, and perhaps, millions of dollars to repair.

Motorists may not even realize they are driving over one of the creeks, until a culvert fails and a sinkhole opens up, closing a roadway and creating a traffic nightmare.

The incidents often happen at peak run-off periods when the capacity of culverts is tested, as was the case in the spring of 2017, when the Vernon Creek culvert under Highway 97 failed. The Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure (MOTI) was responsible for that repair.

The main failure on city roads has been where BX Creek crosses under 42nd Avenue. The creek runs underground from the Blue Stream Hotel property to where it enters the indoor atrium at the Prestige Vernon Lodge. The culvert at 42nd Avenue has failed three times in the past few years and was determined as a top priority by city infrastructure staff.

The most dramatic case happened in 2017, when a three foot hole, several feet deep opened up, and a Toyota Tundra pick-up ended up in the sinkhole.

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Vernon council approved $500,000 in 2020 for the project, and at Monday’s (May 10) council meeting, approved an additional $370,000 toward the work.

The additional funding was added following detailed design work, environmental permits, and competitive bids from contractors.

Mark Dowhaniuk, Manager of Infrastructure, said the increasing frequency and unpredictable nature of extreme precipitation events has been evident in recent flooding events.

“The capital plan sets aside funding to address priority drainage improvements in recognition of the age and condition of the cities existing drainage infrastructure and the additional stress that is placed on that infrastructure as a result of climate change (increasing frequency and intensity of precipitation events),” Dowhaniuk reported to council.

The additional funds will be taken from $700,000 set aside for Trenchless Storm and Culvert Rehabilitation.

Dowhaniuk recommended the remaining $330,000 be directed to a ‘Cured ln Place Pipe’ (CIPP) tender to be released late spring 2021 for priority projects identified through the city’s pipe video inspection program. Other projects identified for work this year will be pushed to 2022.

Two new technologies are being implemented to extend the life of the infrastructure, while at the same time minimizing traffic disruptions. The above mentioned CIPP, which involves spraying a coating onto existing culverts, and a new method called ‘on situ geo-polymer mortar lining.’

Two trenchless technologies for extending culvert life (photo credit: City of Vernon)

MOTI first used the new method for the large culver crossing Highway 97 at Polson Park

“The infrastructure department believes that further investment in this technology will increase the longevity of existing culverts, without having to replace them,” Dowhaniuk said.