Utility Study Lays the Foundation for Downtown Renewal

A comprehensive condition and capacity study of water, sanitary sewer, and storm sewer systems in advance of a major streetscape and utility improvement program for Glen Ellyn's central business district was completed by RJN's engineering team in 2020. The area infrastructure serves approximately 160 commercial and multi-tenant buildings. Both the storm sewer and water main pipelines cross under the Union Pacific Railroad (UPRR) tracks for the study area thus requiring cost-effective construction methods, sophisticated planning, and innovative design solutions. The detailed underground system condition assessments were used to determine the remaining service life (RSL) and develop short- and long-term recommendations with the estimated costs for the phased infrastructure improvements.

The Village’s goal was to complete all utility replacement and rehabilitation, including service connections, prior to completing the streetscape. Phase I and II design development is ongoing. RJN's team is leading the improvement designs for the abandonment, replacement, or rehabilitation of these crucial utility systems.

• Created short- and long-term capital improvement plans and recommendations for buried utilities: sanitary sewers (12,000 LF), water main (16,000 LF), and storm sewers (22,000 LF).
• Condition assessments included manhole inspections (185) and rim survey (75), smoke testing (8,800 LF), dye flood testing (3 setups), sewer CCTV review (35,700 LF), storm CCTV review (22,000 LF), sanitary and storm lateral CCTV review (510), storm inlet/catch basin inspection (190), building inspections (146); and capacity evaluations and modeling based on collected flow data (7 meters/60 days).

• Field inspections were used to update the Village GIS sanitary sewer, storm sewer, and water asset inventory providing the Village with accurate, field verified maps.

• Seventeen water pipe segments were evaluated using acoustic leak detection. Seven crucial mains were inspected using the Echologics ePulse^® tool; three of the mains had lost between 35% and 50% of their wall thickness and the remaining four indicated wall losses ranging between 16% and 26%. The remaining service life assessment determined four cast-iron water mains were near critical and two had less than ten years of useful life remaining.

• Hydraulic analysis and modeling evaluated current and future capacity needs for the sanitary sewers serving the central business district.