The pile of pipes that’s been sitting on Columbia Street for months could be gone by next week.
Metro Vancouver began working on the upgrades to a sewer line running through downtown New Westminster last spring, with work originally expected to be complete by the fall of 2021. Weather, supply chain issues and unforeseen underground obstructions have delayed the project, resulting in an ongoing stockpile of pipes on Columbia Street.
“If they don’t have somewhere else to put them, can we give them parking tickets?” Coun. Jaimie McEvoy said at Monday’s council meeting, where council members expressed concern about the impact on businesses.
At Monday’s council meeting, staff said Metro Vancouver anticipated it could begin sliplining as soon as this week, weather permitting. Sliplining is a process that involves installing new pipes into existing pipes.
Eugene Wat, the city’s manager of infrastructure planning, told council most of the pipes need for the project have been stockpiled on Columbia Street, near Begbie Street, which is where the pipes will be inserted into existing pipes as part of the project. He said the pipes have been sitting at that location for a long period of time because of the delays being experienced by Metro Vancouver.
But it looks like the days of stockpiling pipes on Columbia Street could be coming to an end.
In a Feb. 17 conversation with the project manager, Wat said he was told that pipe sliplining had commenced the previous day. He said the contractor started inserting the pipe liners at 1 p.m. Wednesday and worked until later in the evening.
“They installed eight segments of liners yesterday and are continuing the work today,” he said in an email to the Record on Thursday. “The proposed schedule is to complete the majority of the pipe liner installation by this weekend (Sunday).”
According to Wat, the work will continue into next week.
“The plan is to complete all the pipe liner installation across downtown Columbia Street by mid next week, weather permitting,” he said. “Once this is completed, the stockpile of pipe liners in the vicinity of Begbie Street would be consumed and no longer be sitting on the street.”
On Monday, council approved an exemption to the city’s construction noise bylaw so the contractor can conduct maintenance of the existing sewer, install new utility holes and do sliplining (installing pipes into existing pipes) related to the project along Columbia Street. The overnight work will be done over eight nights from Feb. 15 to March 10.
The following morning, Metro Vancouver announced that a full road closure of the 700 and 800 blocks of Columbia Street would be in effect from Feb. 16 to 19 due to sewer construction.
“The full road closure along the east segment of Columbia Street is to facilitate the installation of the pipe liners,” Wat explained. “All these liners are inserted into the existing underground pipe from the open shaft located on Columbia Street at Begbie Street. So the road closure is to enable the work zone.”
New West Progressives mayoral candidate Ken Armstrong issued a press release on Wednesday morning saying “enough is enough.” He called on Metro Vancouver and New Westminster city council to work together to relocate the piles of sewer pipes currently being stored on Columbia Street in within a week.
“Our downtown businesses have faced a tremendous amount of pressure with COVID and crime and safety issues,” he said in a news release. “It’s time for Metro Vancouver to step up and remove those pipes and move them to a location that will not disrupt the business operations of our local businesses any longer.”
In a Feb. 18 email to the Record, a Metro Vancouver spokesperson said it’s expected that sliplining will be complete by the end of next week, with all pipes installed and off the roadway. Restoration and other work associated with the project will follow.
