Frankenmuth

Junction Road and South Dehmel Transmission Water Main Replacement Project By the end of April, you will see construction along Junction Road, between West Tuscola and Dehmel Roads. This $3.6 million construction project ensures the continuation of Frankenmuth's supply of clean drinking water from the City of Saginaw. Construction will replace the 20-inch transmission main on Junction Road and the 12-inch main along Dehmel Road. While the transmission main itself isn't very old, the soils in the area are very corrosive. The existing ductile iron mains were installed in 1970 and 1971 as part of the transition from drinking treated water out of the Cass River to purchasing drinking water from the City of Saginaw, whose source is Lake Huron. Corrosive soils have eaten away at the ductile iron pipe since they were installed. Over time extremely corrosive soils in the area have deteriorated the iron mains to the point where water main breaks were numerous and were causing large water losses. Water main breaks of this size and intensity put the entire water system at risk. Large water loss can lead to the City's whole water system losing pressure and that could result in boil water advisories. The first transmission main break occurred in 1994 and since then there have been a total of 14 breaks on the transmission main. To complicate the matter, there have sometimes been multiple, simultaneous breaks on the transmission main. Not only is the transmission main vitally important to keeping Frankenmuth (City and Township) serviced with drinking water, it's location on Junction Road make breaks dangerous and difficult to repair. Current construction practices use plastic pipe called polyvinyl chloride or PVC for conveying water. This will prevent the issue with corrosive soils from "eating" away at the transmission main. During construction, crews will install 10,700 feet of 20-inch PVC pipe generally along the south side of Junction Road. Crews will directionally drill 3,000 feet of fusible PVC pipe. Fusible PVC is essentially plastic pipe that is monolithic – meaning it does not have any gaskets or joints. A total of 2,000 feet of 12-inch water main will be installed on the west side of Dehmel Road. Eric Construction Company of St. Charles was low bidder on the project out of seven bids. The project should be completed by early fall. Eric Construction is familiar with this transmission line and Frankenmuth, as they replaced the 20 inch water main from the Reimer Road Pump Station to West Tuscola Road several years ago. During construction traffic on Junction Road will be reduced to one lane in the construction zone with portable stop lights used to regulate traffic Monday thru Friday. On the weekends and holidays the traffic signals will be removed to resume normal traffic flows. Dehmel Road will experience one lane traffic and partial road closures when necessary. For the most up to date information on detours and construction progress, please look to the Frankenmuth News or the City's website, Facebook and Twitter. Crews on the scene of a transmission main break on Junction Road. This break was the result of a 4 inch hole. Severe corrosion on a section of transmission main. The iron portion of the pipe is gone, showing the inner cement lining of the pipe. This type of corrosion is prevalent along the existing pipe on Junction and Dehmel Roads. A section of 20 inch transmission main with a 3 inch hole. Severe corrosion with iron loss is evident with deep pitting on the pipe wall below the hole (when the iron is lost, the only thing that remains is the cement lining) 18

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