Throughout its history, Walbridge has cracked through the earth’s surface to construct pipelines and facilities dedicated to the transportation and treatment of water and wastewater. Sometimes, however, that hasn’t been the focus of the work.
Take, for instance, the unexpected find a Walbridge project team made in 2013 while working on the Michigan Department of Natural Resource’s Outdoor Adventure Center. The property was located at the site of an old ship building drydock near the Detroit River. During a planned excavation, a crew came across a lengthy section of wooden water main. It was hollowed out in the center with a three-inch diameter hole and was decaying on the outside. Wood, at one time, was commonly used to transport water beneath the streets of Detroit, Manhattan and other big cities. The practice dates as far back as the mid-1800s.
One participant in an online discussion about the history of water lines in Detroit recalled the time he saw a sizeable section of wooden water main in the 1970s. He was a telephone installer and was called out to hang phone lines in an area where the new Interstate 96 was being built. A construction crew waved him over as they were preparing to install a cement cap over an odd-looking pipeline.
“It was made out of hollowed out cedar logs and it was in 10-foot sections,” the writer recounted. “The sections appeared to be joined with some kind of tar substance. They had no idea how long it had been there, but it was still in service at that time (mid-70s.)”
By the early 20th century, pre-formed or poured concrete was the go-to material for construction of new water and sewer lines.
In the fall of 1921, city leaders in Detroit were dealing with a water problem of their own making. Earlier, they annexed 41 square miles of land adjacent to the city limits and Detroit expanded to 81 square miles in size. Its population was expected to grow to 2.5 million residents, many of whom had inadequate sewer and water service.
So, one of the world’s largest sewer building projects at the time was set in motion. The water and sewer department would spend $1 million per month constructing spider webs of lines across Detroit. About 30 of the largest contracting firms in the nation (Nash Bros., Chicago; Cabot & Rollins, Boston; Booth & Flinn, New York) were invited to bid.
Walbridge-Aldinger Company was awarded a contract to build new sewer lines in an 18-square-mile section of northwest Detroit. The area would be served by four large branch sewers, which would find their outlet in the “great Lonyo Road trunk.”
Workers cut an open trench wide and deep enough to insert sections of dual concrete barrels that each were 14-1/2 feet in diameter. The “cut” extended 8,359 feet (1.58 miles.) Once in place, the new sewer line and open ground were covered with backfill. The company would be paid $1.43 million.
Over the decades, Walbridge went on to construct dozens of water treatment facilities, pumping stations, equalization basins, and chlorination facilities in Detroit, other parts of Michigan, as well as in Ohio, Kentucky, Pennsylvania and Florida.