From big mistakes, big solutions can come.

The repair of the massive sewer collapse and sinkhole in Fraser has won a national award, giving the Macomb County Public Works Office a clean sweep of engineering awards for the 2017 project, which lasted 11 months and cost $75 million.

Public Works Commissioner Candice Miller and her team will be awarded the American Public Works Association’s (APWA) national “Project of the Year” award in July.

The project involved excavation of a deep crater roughly the size of a football field, construction of a temporary sewer bypass, the purchase and demolition of damaged homes, road detours, and laying a series of relief pipes that kept pollution out of the Clinton River.

A Christmas Eve 2016 disaster that was blamed on a lack of proper maintenance and inspections under the previous administration, Miller moved in quickly to grab hold of the situation a week before she took office. The outgoing public works commissioner, Tony Marrocco, took no action to fix the mess he was leaving behind.

“While no one ever hopes to be faced with a catastrophe of the magnitude that we had with the sinkhole on 15 Mile Road, our team of engineers, construction managers, contractors and all those who were involved in this project are rightly proud of the work that they accomplished,” Miller said.

Miller and Urban

“It was not an easy job, but from the start the people on this job were committed to doing it right. It was the epitome of the word ‘team.’ To now see our engineers and the engineering firms that we brought on board be honored by their professional peers is very gratifying.”

The APWA national award – project of the year in the “Disaster or Emergency Construction/Repair, $25 to $75 Million” category – will be presented in Kansas City in July. The APWA’s Michigan chapter had previously named the repair as its state project of the year, an award that was accepted by Miller and the lead engineer, Lou Urban, a civil engineer with the Shelby Township-based firm Anderson, Eckstein & Westrick (AEW).

AEW worked with the main construction firm, Dan’s Excavating, which is also based in Shelby Township.. The lead internal project managers on the repair job were Public Works employees Vince Astorino and Evans Bantios.

Other honors for the 15 Mile Road project include:

  • American Society of Civil Engineers, Southeastern Michigan Branch and Michigan Section, “Outstanding Civil Engineer Project of the Year;”
  • American Council of Engineering Companies, Michigan Division, “Engineering Merit Award;”
  • Michigan Association of County Drain Commissioners, “Innovation & Excellence Award.”

 

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