Cushman Repairs Come Just in Time for Rain

north of Rosedale Street NW reopened to the public last week, after the completed on a damaged culvert ahead of schedule, under budget and just in time for Friday's downpour.

“It went extremely well,” said City Engineer Stephen Misiurak. “We did it in between the rain drops and completed construction just in time for the heavy rainfall.”

A severe rainstorm in mid-December last year is what led to the damage and emergency repairs in the first place. A spot on the trail 900 feet north of Rosedale sank during the downpour, which in turn caused the concrete pipe that passes water under the trail to break in several places.

To fix the problem, the city hired Tacoma contractor Active Construction, Inc. to work with city engineers in replacing the old 18-inch wide culvert with 24-inch PVC piping. It closed the trail between Rosedale and 96th Street NW from April 25 to 29 in order to complete the task.

The repair process involved some initial excavation followed by inserting the larger PVC pipe into one end of the smaller concrete one and pulling it through to the other end.

“It was quite the operation. You essentially burst the old pipe as you pull the new pipe through,” Misiurak said.

Nevertheless, the new culvert was in place by mid-week. Restoration of the areas disturbed by the work was finished by Thursday and the trail reopened to the public on Friday.

The repairs were originally estimated to cost $50,000, but Misiurak expects them to come in under that – around $45,000 – once all the expenses are tallied.

Pierce County has agreed to contribute about $20,000 toward the cost, said Misiurak. The rest will come from Gig Harbor’s Emergency Preparedness Storm Water Fund and anticipated savings from storm water projects this year.