Northwest Technical Luncheon – Edmonton, AB

Date: Thursday, January 23
Time: 11:30 AM – 1:30 PM
Location: ​University Club of the University of Alberta 11435 Saskatchewan Dr, Edmonton, AB T6G 2G9
Cost: Free for Members | $20 for Non-Members**

The Trans Mountain Expansion Project, constructed between 2019 and 2024, incorporated over 550 trenchless crossings in varying terrain from central Alberta to British Columbia’s lower mainland. While most of the major crossings were completed using one-pass methodologies such as horizontal directional drills, two-pass microtunneling was used in select locations to tackle some unique challenges on the project. This presentation will cover several completed two-pass tunnels for high pressure pipelines ranging in length from ~120 m to 240 m in a wide range of geological and hydrogeological conditions, while crossing highways, railways, and environmentally sensitive areas.

Presenter: Jake Fei, EIT and Project Coordinator, Stantec

Jake is a Civil EIT and project coordinator with Stantec’s water conveyance group in Edmonton helping clients deliver multi-disciplinary projects. Jake specializes in trenchless design and construction for new installations and rehabilitation projects across Canada and the United States. He dedicated over three years of his career to the Trans Mountain Expansion Project, gaining a wealth of knowledge in trenchless construction where he helped to coordinate and conduct design review of over 50 major and 50 minor trenchless crossings.”

Northwest Technical Luncheon – Edmonton, AB

Date: Thursday, November 28
Time: 11:30 AM – 1:30 PM
Location: ​University Club of the University of Alberta 11435 Saskatchewan Dr, Edmonton, AB T6G 2G9
Cost: Free for Members | $20 for Non-Members**

Join us for an educational luncheon on the Mill Creek combined sewer trunk, which conveys wastewater and rainwater from south Edmonton to the Gold Bar Wastewater Treatment Plant, built in 1958.

The Mill Creek combined sewer trunk, which conveys wastewater and rainwater from south Edmonton to the Gold Bar Wastewater Treatment Plant, was built in 1958. The service area for this trunk is about 8,200 Ha plus the Nisku & Leduc areas. According to the Multi-Sensor Inspection (MSI) in 2018 and the concept study, the physical condition of the trunk is poor and very poor, especially the section found in Mill Creek Ravine. This trunk was determined to be a high priority rehabilitation project. The main scope includes 890m of 2100mm diameter new tunnel with two shafts, 200m of local sewer reconnection, and abandonment of 860m of existing trunk.

The first phase of the project construction was a micro tunnel which began in March 2023 and was successfully completed in June 2024. This included the construction of a secant pile working shaft next to the Mill Creek School playground, a liner plate retrieval shaft within Tubby Bateman Park, and an HDPE lined 2100mm inside diameter (ID) reinforced concrete jacking pipe installed by micro tunnel boring machine (MTBM).

Presenter: Gary Fei, P.Eng. M. Eng. Project Manager from EPCOR Water Services

Gary has been working with City of Edmonton and EPCOR for more than 17 years. He has involved in the design, construction and project management for many projects, including the tunnel installations, trunk rehab, sewer rehab and upgrading, and other drainage related projects.

Northwest Technical Luncheon – Edmonton, AB

Date: Thursday, October 24
Time: 11:30 AM – 1:30 PM
Location: ​University Club of the University of Alberta 11435 Saskatchewan Dr, Edmonton, AB T6G 2G9
Cost: Free for Members | $20 for Non-Members**

Join us for an informative presentation on Trenchless crossings. An efficient and effective means of crossing unstable terrain, watercourses, environmentally sensitive areas and areas of congestion/urban development.While trenchless technologies have improved dramatically over the decades, they can still be adversely affected by ground conditions either not being properly investigated or being inadequately understood. New trenchless methods such as Drill-Intercept (HDD) and Direct Pipe have also allowed for crossings to be considered with ground conditions that would have previously been deemed not feasible.

This talk will highlight Mr. Saunder’s experiences with some of the challenges posed by geotechnical conditions with various types of trenchless crossing methods. Mr. Saunders will also touch on specific problems associated with artesian pressures, cobbles/boulders, abrasive soil/bedrock, coal mines, gravel pits, excessive settlement/ground loss, mixed face conditions, and high groundwater. 

Bob Saunders is a Senior Associate and Senior Geotechnical engineer with Thurber Engineering Ltd. in their Calgary office. He has a B.Sc. in Civil Engineering from the University of Calgary (1981) and a Master of Engineering in Geotechnical Engineering from the University of Alberta (1989). Mr. Saunders has over 40 years of experience with civil engineering projects in Western and Northern Canada, mostly related to pipelines and geohazards. His early experience was with northern pipelines including the Foothills Pipelines gas pipeline project in the Yukon and the Norman Wells oil pipeline project in the Mackenzie Valley.

He has specialized in trenchless construction of pipelines for over 30 years with his first HDD being completed in 1990. He has assessed hundreds of trenchless crossings of landslides, watercourses and civil infrastructure and has experienced many of the challenges one might expect with a long career.