Greenfield Road Force Main Failure. Responding to a high profile catastrophic force main failure in the Town of Gilbert, Arizona.

摘要

This presentation will outline the emergency response efforts and long term corrective actions taken by the community of Gilbert, Arizona during a complete failure of two parallel sewer force main pipelines, that also caused a significant sinkhole in a major arterial roadway. The entire response and repair effort lasted approximately two months and cost over $1.4 million. The presentation will highlight the initial response that was taken to maintain sewer service for the impacted lift station service area, the protection of the traveling public due to large sinkhole in a roadway, the inspection and assessment efforts taken to define the problem and develop an appropriate long term repair alternative, and also how the event has led Gilbert to launch a complete system-wide sewer force main assessment and rehabilitation program. Introduction Gilbert, Arizona is a suburb of Phoenix, Arizona with a population of approximately 245,000 people located in Maricopa County, Arizona. The major arterial roadways throughout the area are generally 5-lane roadways in a 1-mile grid arrangement. One such major arterial is Greenfield Road, located in southeast Gilbert. On February 23rd, 2016 at approximately 12:30 AM a police officer reported that a vehicle disappeared behind her patrol car while traveling northbound on Greenfield Road, just past the Queen Creek Road intersection. The full size pickup truck had driven into a 30-foot wide sinkhole that had just opened up.