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City of Ann Arbor SSWWEP - Citizens Advisory Committee Coordination — City of Ann Arbor

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Road Construction- Miller

Posted by Michelle Lovasz on 20 Feb, 2014
Category: No category

Miller being the most recent major overhaul of a road and what lies beneath, it would be informative to learn what was installed and why.  The City made decisions to do or not to do, surely based on need and expense.  Rather than have this ask for an exhaustive, detailed response, I am mostly interested in what the City has presently acknowledged to be its concern for what lies beneath the roads by what it has actually contracted for. 
1.  Were stormwater pipes replaced?  Were they replaced with larger capacity or any other measures?
2.  Were sanitary pipes replaced? Were they replaced with larger capacity or any other measures?
3.  Were any measures taken to prompt the residences on this route to engage in FDDs (removal at the source) while the road and leads were opened, trucks and equipment were there (etc) to achieve an economy of scale?

Comments

Michelle Lovasz on 21 Feb, 2014:

http://www.mlive.com/news/ann-arbor/index.ssf/2014/02/ann_arbor_adopts_new_green_str.html#incart_riv…

I got my answer! 

Frank Burdick on 22 Feb, 2014:

Michelle, 
These are all good questions.  I suggest that you track the date that you have asked them and  see how long it takes to get an answer.  

These same questions could be applied to new street construction on Madison.  I doubt very much that the neighbors in that area would have been too willing to cooperate with the City on anythng that would extend the construction period. Next time you go to Washtenaw Dairy, ask the Owner how much business he lost due to that project.

I have lost track of the numerous questions I have submitted.  Because base camp is so convoluted, I find that I either can't find the question or worse, I stumble across some answer written by Famous in Your Field, that may have been written 10 days ago.  Because the answers are not "attributed" to anyone at the city, we are left not knowing how or who to respond to.  We can re-send the same related question and it sometimes gets lost in the shuffle of basecamop.  In addition, when Famous in Your Field "closes" an issue, no further comments are entered.  

I've always said that this should be presented as a true log, for tracking purposes.  The current process is cumbersome and tends to inadvertantly bury issues.  
 

Nick Hutchinson on 23 Feb, 2014:

Michelle, regarding Miller:

1. Storm pipes were replaced.  When we completely reconstruct a road, we have the opportunity and requirement to perform stormwater management.  In the case of Miller, large diameter storm pipes were placed relatively flat to act as stormwater detention. Rain gardens were also used to detain and infiltrate stormwater.

2. Only one portion of the sanitary sewer was replaced.  I belive it was the western-most third of the project or so. The current model that we had at the time showed that area had capacity problems, so it was replaced with a slightly larger diameter pipe. This was feasible because the pipe it connected to was already larger, and the model showed that it would not create any capacity issues downstream. The rest of the sanitary was left in place, as it was in relatively decent shape and the model did not show any capacity issues.

3. FDD was not considered part of the scope of this project. It was not within one of the 5 study areas, and the FDD program had been put on hold anyway.

Michelle Lovasz on 23 Feb, 2014:

Thank you Nick.  What made the decision put larger storm pipes?  What does it mean "pipes were placed relatively flat" -- no pitch?

Nick Hutchinson on 24 Feb, 2014:

To answer the second part first - yes, sort of.  They were not placed with "no pitch", but with minimal pitch.

As to the first part, this could lead in to a very long discussion on stormwater management, but let me try to give you the quick answer. When we reconstruct a street, the City's stormwater permit requires us to detain and/or infiltrate a certain amount of stormwater.  That was the purpose of the stormwater pipes on Miller.  Rain gardens also contribute to the storage and infiltration requirement as well.

Michelle Lovasz on 24 Feb, 2014:

Thank you Nick.  A short answer is good at this point.  I am still just trying to "draw the line" in my head that differentiates storm from sewer, to pinpoint problem solving and not overlap into what Troy's CAC is addressing - stormwater.