Manistee's U.S. 31 lane closure caused by pipe collapse

Jun 20, 2023

A lane closure on U.S. 31 in Manistee was necessitated by a collapsed sewer pipe.

MANISTEE — Those driving through Manistee have likely noticed a short southbound lane closure on U.S. 31 near Chopo's Northside Bar.

The closure is between Monroe and Jackson streets.

Manistee City Council member Dave Bachman asked about the closure during a regular meeting on May 16.

"That was an emergency repair — there was a pipe that collapsed," said Bill Gambill, city manager. "... It's a 120-year-old concrete pipe."

In an email to the News Advocate, Jeff Mikula, Manistee Department of Public Works director, said the issue was discovered when a sinkhole was reported near the west curb line at Jackson Street along U.S. 31.

"Upon investigation by DPW we believed the sewer main may have been broken," Mikula said. "Further investigation confirmed a portion of the top of the sewer main had collapsed."

Lucas Richardson, project manager for Spicer Group, the city's contracted engineering firm, said the repair poses some unique challenges.

"It's a 1900s pipe and it's a 12-inch by 19-inch teardrop pipe, so it's not a simple circle," he said. "... It's an upside-down teardrop-shaped pipe, so it's a lot more difficult to rehab."

Mikula said in the email excavation would lead to a full line replacement and require two lanes to be closed.

"Therefore, we elected to research internal pipe repairs," he said. "We have hired a contractor to place a synthetic liner within the pipe. We are hoping the work will be completed before the Fourth of July."

Bachman asked during the May 16 meeting if any more of the pipe would be tended to beyond the site of the collapse.

"I think we're scheduling to ... propose to council to rehab 300 feet," Richardson said. "... Not the whole reach, but from Van Buren to Jackson Street."

In 2020, the city lined nearly six miles of sewer pipes, extending their life by 50-80 years, but those miles accounted for only a fraction of the city's sewer system.

Shawn Middleton, Spicer Group vice president, said the locations of the sewer lining project had to be chosen based on the prevelence of influent infiltration — groundwater seeping into pipes through holes, cracks and joint failures — instead of the condition of the pipes.

"Because we were using (U.S. Department of Agriculture) Rural Development funds, they specifically wanted us to reduce influent infiltration, so there were certain regions we had to work in: the ones with the most influent infiltration," Middleton said. "... That kind of forced our hand a little bit to where we could do the work. ... We would have loved to line all the bad pipes but it would have been a $25 million lining project.

"In the capital improvement plan, down the road there's lining projects — four or five years out," he continued. "So there are plans to kind of keep picking away at it, but there's only so much money."