You hear that? 24/7 noise during construction on 15th Avenue

Residents who live along a three-kilometre stretch of 15th Avenue will have to put up with a noisy construction project lasting for most of the summer.

The wastewater trunk relining project started this month in the Cathedral neighbourhood and will move east down 15th Avenue from McTavish Street to Wallace Street, wrapping up by the end of August.

Pat Wilson, director of water, waste and environmental services for the City of Regina, explained the process installs a new liner inside the current sewer main, giving it another 50 years of life.

It’s faster and less expensive than digging up and replacing the pipe, costing $5 million to reline instead of $15 million to dig. The private contractor will work 24/7 relining 30 blocks of pipe in nine weeks, which is normally three construction seasons worth of work, according to Wilson.

The biggest nuisance to residents will be the loud hum of the pump which will supply wastewater service to customers while the work is underway.

Here’s what residents who live on 15th Ave are hearing 24/7 as work to reline a major wastewater trunk makes it’s way east from McTavish to Wallace wrapping by at the end of August. #yqr pic.twitter.com/SRjD6LG4KZ

— Andrew Shepherd (@Andrew5hepherd) June 25, 2019

This trunk serves about 25 per cent of the city’s population and the pump has to run 24/7, otherwise everybody would have to stop flushing.

“It is taking wastewater from the entire southeast area, all of downtown and all the way across and then it goes up to the McCarthy Boulevard pumping station,” Wilson said.

The city said it notified residents about the project details in May but also plans to send another letter to residents before the project arrives on their block when it moves east.

For some residents the noise was so loud, they were put up in hotels for the night.

The city explained the contractor determines where the pump is placed and, depending on the circumstances, will make the decision to accommodate and foot the hotel bill for residents. The city could not confirm how many households to date were offered hotel rooms because of the noise.

Kirk Gelinas lives along 15th and said the noise woke up his wife at 2:30 a.m. It was not from the pump, but from the beeping coming from the reversing construction vehicles as they moved down the street.

He got the letter from the city but said it didn’t detail what his household experienced.

“They said nothing about the noise, or not at nighttime anyways,” said Gelinas.

While he called the noise “kind of annoying,” Gelinas said it’s still a better process than digging up the whole street.

Another resident, Cheryl Luther agreed, saying fixing the sewer is worth the temporary annoyance.

“It actually hasn’t been too bad until now. They just moved here. But it’s not that bad. I know it has to be done,” said Luther.

Others like Megan Rankin think it has actually felt quieter than usual now that drivers aren’t able to speed down the road.

“Fifteenth just got just as busy as Albert at rush hour so it’s always noisy,” said Rankin. “Keep it blocked off forever.”

The city thanked residents for their patience and said it’s working on getting the project done as quickly and efficiently as it possibly can.