PLANNING, EXTENSIVE MONITORING AND GOOD COMMUNICATION SOLVES PUBLIC NOISE CONCERNS ON 2 LARGE HDD CROSSINGS IN SUNDRE, ALBERTA

摘要

In 2010 the Town of Sundre, Alberta constructed two large diameter pipeline crossings of the RedDeer River using Horizontal Directional Drilling (HDD) technology. Each crossing was approximately 450 m inlength. The crossing pipelines; sanitary (406 mm OD) and potable water (560mm OD), were constructed from DR9HDPE and were installed to provide for new and existing development on the east side of the Red Deer River; as theTown currently provides water and wastewater services to the west side of town only. This would add 250 residentsand related businesses to the present population of 2,700. The Town of Sundre is located in a peaceful rural settingwith excellent golf courses, supporting infrastructure and a number of retirees. Noise from 24 hour drill rigoperations and 12 hour/day shift casing hammer operations, was anticipated to be a major obstacle for the projectdue to the proximity of the crossing location to the Town center (about 250 metres). In addition there was asignificant depth of sand and gravel on the entry side that required the installation of about 80 metres of largediameter casing. Installation of the casing was restricted to day shift only however drilling was undertaken as a 24hour operation to complete the crossing as quickly as possible. The drilling contract stipulated noise mitigationefforts on the entry side and exit side, which was located less than 100 meters from an apartment block. In addition,to counter any claim that the noise was above permitted levels, extensive daily monitoring was carried out by theengineer.