Texas Medical Center Sewer Rehabilitation

Dec. 16, 2019

Cost: $4.5 million
Location: Houston, Texas
Year: 2019-12-01
Size: 34 mgd
Owner: City of Houston, Texas Medical Center, Houston Parks and Recreation Department
Designers: City of Houston, Houston Water/Wastewater Operations Branch
Contractor: City of Houston

As a result of the devastating effects of Hurricane Harvey in Houston, the main sanitary sewer system of the Texas Medical Center was seriously impacted. The impact was mainly reflected in two cave-ins produced as a result of the collapse of a rectangular sanitary sewer concrete box underneath North MacGregor Way and a 30-in. pipe segment underneath Braeswood Boulevard. 

In conjunction with IPR South Central, the city decided to perform the repairs and rehabilitation of the sanitary sewer system throughout the execution of a project involving two different phases. Texas Medical Center required extensive traffic control regulations due to the high volume of traffic.

The first phase included the repair of the concrete box sewer and rehabilitation of 1,357 ft of a 60-in. diameter pipe using a fiberglass liner to install more than 600 ft in two different shots. The second phase used cured-in-place pipe (CIPP) for 18-in., 30-in. and 36-in. diameter pipes at a total of 1,052 ln ft. IPR proposed a water installation with a pre-liner installed prior to the CIPP liner to avoid any resin washouts or imperfections.

A fiberglass-reinforced liner was used for 48-in. and 60-in. diameter pipes at 2,960 ln ft to increase the structural integrity of the liner. IPR also identified a 157 ft long, 48-in. diameter pipe located under a street connecting to a junction box. After a cave-in occurred on a 135 ft, 30-in. line at a sidewalk, IPR realized much of the segment was missing pipe. It identified pipe bursting as the best solution for the aforementioned portion of rehabilitation. 

IPR proposed to rehabilitate the pipe with the EcoCast method to avoid a transition CIPP liner and to minimize the risk of installation, due to the location being a highly trafficked area with limited access to the downstream manhole. 

Project Year: 2019-12-01Contractor: City of Houston Designers: City of Houston, Houston Water/Wastewater Operations Branch Owner: City of Houston, Texas Medical Center, Houston Parks and Recreation Department Location: Houston, Texas Cost: $4.5 million Size: 34 mgd

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