A BC Hydro excavation project that’s been ongoing the past two months near the intersection of Winnipeg and Carney streets is still a few weeks away from completion.
Prince George residents have been wondering what’s going on with that big red tank and the tent structure that was set up on the northeast corner of the intersection.
BC Hydro community relations manager Mike Kellett said the utility company needed to act promptly to replace a manhole and underground concrete utility box that encases an electrical box installed in the 1960s. The box had deteriorated to the point where the components inside were at risk of failure, which could have interrupted electrical power in the area.
“That big red tank is needed to dewater the excavation site – it’s pumping water out of there while the crews work,” said Kellett.
“There’s an electrical box under the intersection there that had significantly eroded and needed to be replaced quite urgently. Because of the nature of the slope, going down Carney Hill, there’s a lot of water flowing down into the excavation site which requires BC Hydro to dewater the area as we go, which obviously slows (the project) down.”
The tent was erected to keep rain and snow away from the excavation site and is part of BC Hydro’s cold-weather procedures for outdoor projects in winter months.
The excavation began Sept. 27 and Kellett said BC Hydro expects to wrap up the project by mid-December. The work was at first scheduled to be completed in mid-November but was delayed by water seepage, which required continual pumping to allow crews to make the necessary repairs. The presence of other infrastructure also slowed progress and pushed back the completion date.
The immediate vicinity of that intersection has given the city plenty of trouble in recent years. A large sinkhole developed on Winnipeg Street in 2018 which twice forced city crews to dig underneath the road surface to replace a failed eight-metre long section of metal sewage pipe and replace it with a concrete structure. That project was finished in October 2018 and fixed a problem that had plagued city engineers for nearly two years.
