Concrete plans go forward in the Sault: city undertaking major overhaul on city aqueduct.

• Author: Kelly, Lindsay
• Position: Design-Build

The replacement of the Fort Creek Aqueduct in Sault Ste. Marie is one of biggest municipal infrastructure projects in the city's recent history, and yet once it's complete, it will be largely invisible to the naked eye.

"You're spending $30 million, and when you pave over it and put grass on it, it looks like you weren't even there," said Don Elliott, the city's director of engineering services. "It's not like building a building that we can see, but it certainly is critical infrastructure."

The decades-old aqueduct--a series of underground channels or ditches designed to divert water runoff--was constructed to prevent flooding from Fort Creek and encompasses several city blocks in the city's west end. While it's undergone minor repairs over the years, it's never had a major overhaul, Elliott said.

But the aging infrastructure no longer meets the city's design standards, and, in some areas, the aqueduct is actually undersized to meet the city's needs.

The city will tear out the old concrete infrastructure, rebuild it, and waterproof it. In some areas, Elliott said, the city will actually "twin" the aqueduct, creating relief areas to handle a larger flow of water.

"It's showing signs of its age by little minor failures here and there," he said. "We inspect it every two years, do structural inspections, and there are some spots on it that were starting to fail, so we knew had to start budgeting to get it replaced."

With a total price tag of $31.2 million, the project will be funded three ways by the city, FedNor, and the Northern Ontario Heritage Fund Corp. (NOHFC), which are each contributing $10.4 million.

Phase one of the project was completed in 2013 using city capital, and Sault contractor Jobst Construction is currently working on phase two, which is being done in two parts through 2015 and 2016. The entire project is expected to take between six and eight years.

Elliott said while it's difficult to predict costs so far in advance, the city is hopeful it can complete the project within budget...