Above ground-construction on the new barrier wall along the east side of St. Albert Trail at the south end of the city was halted after the city issued a stop work order to its contractor following two major incidents within a month.
On Tuesday, 760 homes were without gas utilities, after a subcontractor of Wilco Contractors hit a gas line around 11:30 a.m. while installing pile foundations for the city's barrier wall.
No injuries were reported, but northbound traffic on St. Albert Trail between Hebert Road and Sterling Street was reduced to one lane for about four hours. ATCO Gas was on scene to conduct repairs, resulting in gas services being terminated until they were restored at 9 p.m.
At the end of July a water main line burst after being hit by contractors, resulting in severe flooding of adjacent properties. About 1,000 cubic metres of water was released, and the three most impacted residents are in talks with their insurance providers for repairs to damaged garages and basements.
The stop work order was partially lifted when the company submitted its work plan on Thursday. That means construction involving ground disturbances is prohibited while the city reviews Wilco’s work plan.“There’s a lot of other activities the public may see them doing but they are not permitted to disturb the ground by any means, aside from the hydro-vac,” said Gary Dang Vuu, City of St. Albert project manager.
Wilco confirmed Friday they received permission to resume work “on major scopes of this project.”
Construction on the barrier wall is on its second phase this summer, replacing the southern wall section from Hebert Road to Sterling Street. It was estimated to be completed by the end of September.
“It’s in the city’s best interest to complete the wall as soon as possible,” Dang Vuu said. “We understand the impact in the next week with upcoming school. The traffic volumes will become a lot larger.”
The city is conducting an investigation to determine the root cause of the gas line hit, and while it is clear the contractor hit the gas line, events preceding that are not certain, Dang Vuu said.
“Wilco has explored underground services by means of hydro vac, and it’s evident they’ve done that, but … obviously this was not clear enough in the field,” he said.
Wilco Contractors Northwest Inc. president Art Maat said in an emailed statement the company apologizes to St. Albert residents “for any inconvenience and disruptions caused by recent utility hits. As the general contractor we take on full responsibility for safety, not only for our employees, but also for the general public, and for the many subcontractors performing work on our projects.”
St. Albert communications advisor Juliann Cashen said in an email the city apologizes for the incident.
“The city sincerely apologizes for any inconvenience this incident may have caused,” Cashen wrote.
