Metro Vancouver plans to tear up yet another major thoroughfare in Coquitlam for a new water main.
On Monday, Sept. 23, Ross Richardson, a lead senior engineer with the regional authority, told Coquitlam’s council in committee it plans to start construction next summer to install a water pipe under Dewdney Trunk Road.
The new main will replace the existing Port Moody Main #1, which was put under ground in 1950 and is now at the end of its service life.
Richardson said the first phase of the 1.6-km infrastructure project will involve sinking a 900 mm diameter steel pipe along Dewdney Trunk from the Pier Drive intersection to Lougheed Highway.
A future section of the Dewdney water main will eventually link with the new Coquitlam Water Main #4 near Westwood Street.
Jaime Boan, Coquitlam’s general manager of engineering and public works, said the aim of the capital project is to minimize residential and traffic disruptions by switching the water main route — currently from the Port Moody border to Woodland Drive in Port Coquitlam — to Dewdney Trunk Road, and coordinating the construction with the Coquitlam Water Main #4 work.
“We feel comfortable with the plans Metro Vancouver [is] putting forward,” Boan said.
Richardson, who acknowledged Metro Vancouver will soon have three water main projects on the go in Coquitlam, along with Haney Water Main #4 (west), said the Dewdney pipe install will take about a year, with construction at the Mariner Way intersection happening for about a month during the weekends, when traffic is lighter.
Metro officials are finalizing the traffic management strategy with city managers, he said, and a community liaison officer has been hired to take feedback. A public open house is scheduled for early next year.
Richardson confirmed to Coun. Brent Asmundson that the new pipe to transmit drinking water around the region will be big enough to accommodate more residential density in Coquitlam, as mandated by the provincial government.
Mayor Richard Stewart also asked Metro Vancouver to ensure its signs around the construction sites are clear for pedestrians, cyclists and drivers.
Coun. Craig Hodge, who is Coquitlam’s representative on the Metro water committee, said the Port Moody Main #1 needs to be replaced and Dewdney is the best alignment for the new pipe.
“We have to recognize the work has to be done,” he said.
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