Tulloch Engineering was retained by the Town of Blind River to complete drainage improvements within the West End of Town. The improvements included road reconstruction with storm sewers, asphalt swales and concrete sidewalks, ditching and culvert replacements. The project was completed in two phases, first the ditch improvements in 2009 and than the road reconstruction in 2010. Chris Kirby from the Thessalon office was the project manager for this work and was responsible for design, approvals, tender preparation and contract administration.

The ditch improvements included approximately 400m of ditch regarding with rip-rap lining and 200m of ditch cleanout and culvert replacement. The limiting factor with work was the shallow ditch grades we had to work with ~ 0.2%! The site elevations were marginally higher than the Blind River to the north and we were constrained to the existing railway and highway culverts.

The road reconstruction included the installation of 500m of storm sewer pipe, 26 drainage structures and 20m of “jack and bore” under the railway to tie the new system into the exiting highway crossing. Again, it was challenging to achieve positive drainage in the storm sewer network while keeping cover on the pipes. Roughly half of the total storm sewer was installed at a grade of 0.2% or less.