Easements Needed for Belmont Interceptor Project

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(above) Belmont North interceptor
(below) Deep Rock Tunnel Connector
(posted Jan 23)

The Belmont North Relief Interceptor project has identified properties in the area of 10th Street and Miley Avenue for temporary and permanent easements. The affected landowners, at 1710 and 1700 W. 10th Street, 1131 Miley Avenue, 1402 N. Belmont, 1409 N. Sheffield Avenue and 1441 Pershing Avenue, will have their say at the January 28 public hearing.

The project does not require access to homes, just strips of land near the right of way, according to DPW Deputy Director Steve Nielsen. Nielsen said two appraisals will be conducted on each property to determine compensation for the easement.

The Board of Public Works approved the easement resolution on January 14 at the recommendation of DPW. The project will have an additional benefit by adding 2,200 homes into the system that are currently on septic in Washington Township. The city's goal is to add 7,000 homes to the sewer system over the next five years as part of the Septic Tank Elimination Program. The project has been expedited to help more taxpayers with sewage and drainage issues.

"By having the interceptor on both sides of the road running down the street we'll be able to relieve a lot people in our city right now who are are having combined sewer overflow issues and who are having drainage issues," DPW Director David Sherman said.

The Belmont North interceptor, serving Center, northeastern Wayne and western Washington townships, has reached its capacity, especially during wet weather events, causing sewage to bubble up from manholes into residential streets and homes.

Continued development in the area is expected to generate about 11 million gallons of normal daily sewage flow, peaking to 50 million gallons during wet weather. The project will also benefit Crooked Creek by adding a seven mile pipe to ease the burden of the existing system. The goal is to reduce the amount of raw sewage entering White River.

The two-year construction project is expected to start in the summer of 2009.

The board also approved the deep rock tunnel connector, expected to save taxpayers $100 million over the previous soft tunnel design. The board approved an amended agreement with Earth Tech, valued at $275 million.

DPW PIO Kit Werbe explained "the Deep Rock Tunnel Connector connects from Southport AWT (Advanced Wastewater Treatment Plant) to Belmont AWT / CSO (combined sewer overflow) 008 to CSO 117 at Southern Ave / White River to CSO 118 at Raymond / White River. The Tunnel is approximately 6.5 miles long."

John Morgan of the DPW engineering division said the all sewage will be treated at Southport. Morgan said the deep rock tunnel project is the preferred method over the soft ground tunnel, calling the $180 million soft tunnel a more riskier challenge because it could dry up residential wells and activate some ground contaminants.

The DPW is currently looking at three routes. The 18 foot diameter tunnel will be 250 feet below grade and provide storage capacity. The project requires subsurface easements. Nielsen said there is a benefit to the deep tunneling because the spoils, limestone and dolomite, can used for road beds. "We'll have a material that actually got a value coming out as a spoils with respect to this." He said the shallow tunnels would have had spoils of sand, gravel and glacial till."We had to pay to get rid of that."

Sherman said DPW is waiting signatures from EPA for the deep tunneling. He said the project will pick up four billion gallons of sewage. The project should start in May 31, 2011 and should be completed by 2016.