If you’ve been to Vanier park recently, you’ll have noticed two things: the Bard on the Beach tents are gone, marking the end of another successful season, and work crews have returned and are relentlessly digging along the entire park.
Why, you ask? Well, they are working on the Jervis Forcemain No. 2. The what?
The Jervis Forcemain No. 2 is a new sewer main, connecting the Jervis Pump Station on Sunset Beach with the 8th Avenue Interceptor that runs along, well, West 8th. This will be “No. 2” because there is currently a Jervis Forcemain that runs underneath Vanier Park, which connects the pump with the English Bay Interceptor that runs along West 2nd/6th. This link was built in 1970, and is due for an upgrade.
But wait, weren’t they digging back in 2006 for this?
In November 2006, Directional Mining & Drilling (DMD), Metro Vancouver’s contractor, began tunneling under False Creek using a ‘trenchless’ construction method, called Horizontal Directional Drilling. Due to complications during the drilling process, project completion has been delayed.
The completion of the work will take several months, and will come in several phases. While one contractor is working at Vanier Park, a second one will set up to start work on the section between the park and a to-be-built regulation chamber at West 2nd and Pine. The final phase, laying a pipe along Pine between West 4th and the interceptor at West 8th, sounds interesting:
The methodology for this work is yet to be determined; however, the majority of construction activities related to the tunneling will be based near 4th Avenue and Pine Street, where construction is expected to last up to six months.
Let’s hope it won’t be too messy or disruptive.
Click the map for a larger version.
Last modified: October 22, 2008
