Design/Build for Trenchless Rehabilitation—Find and Fix: Lessons for Success: Fid-Bau Portal

Design/Build for Trenchless Rehabilitation—Find and Fix: Lessons for Success

Kunay, Jonathan E. / Rystrom, Nicholas J.

The rehabilitation of sewer collection systems is typically performed according to detailed specifications that are the result of video inspections of sewers, service laterals and manholes. These specifications detail the extents and quantities of trenchless rehabilitation, spot replacement of sewers, and manhole rehabilitation actions. This traditional approach ensures that existing conditions, including most defects, connectivity, and locations of critical infrastructure are known prior to construction. However, precious time and money must be expended to perform pre-construction inspections and evaluation prior to design. A new approach to comprehensive rehabilitation has been dubbed the “Find and Fix Method”, in which inspections and evaluations of sewer infrastructure are performed immediately prior to construction. This approach allows municipalities to save time, and potentially money, by eliminating the need to clean and inspect the system, review the CCTV videos, and then create a detailed design package. Instead, specifications are produced showing the general area for planned rehabilitation actions, including bid items to account for unforeseen circumstances which could likely arise during construction. The City of Revere, Massachusetts, has used the “Find and Fix” approach to expedite the rehabilitation of critical sewer infrastructure to show progress to the regulatory agencies in response to a Consent Decree. Each year new unknowns are encountered that help to refine the specifications and produce a quality product for the City. This paper will discuss lessons learned and provide a roadmap by which successful “Find and Fix” specifications can be produced to limit change orders and reduce overall risk.