Work includes repairing or replacing 100-year-old public sewer pipes, and constructing sewer service laterals, maintenance holes, sewer cleanouts, and storm drain inlets.
Project Area
This project includes public sewer repairs in NW Westover Road, NW Summit Avenue, and NW Lovejoy Street.
What's Happening Now
James W. Fowler Co., working with the City of Portland Bureau of Environmental Services, has completed construction of public sewer improvements.
Thank You
On behalf of the project team, Environmental Services expresses appreciation to our Hillside neighbors for your patience, understanding, cooperation, and support throughout the NW Westover Road Sewer Repairs Project. We know that construction was inconvenient, disruptive, and highly impactful to the neighborhood. Thank you for bearing with us!
Pavement Restoration
In sewer and stormwater construction projects where crews dig into city streets, Environmental Services is required to follow specifications set by the Portland Bureau of Transportation (PBOT), who owns the streets and manages the public rights-of-way. PBOT determines what pavement restoration a project must do and provides direction that meets the intent of the City’s Pavement Restoration Standard Drawings for Local Streets or Busy Streets.
For the NW Westover Road Sewer Repairs Project, sewer and transportation crews walked NW Westover Road, NW Summit Avenue, and NW Lovejoy Street to determine pavement restoration requirements and area limits for new pavement. They reviewed where crews had to dig up the street to install new sewer pipes, maintenance access holes, catch basins, and storm drains and determined where and how to provide permanent restoration of the temporary asphalt patches.
All of the asphalt patches where crews had to dig in the street have been restored with new asphalt pavement. NW Lovejoy Street included concrete restoration.
Construction Methods
Crews used a combination of Open Trench Excavation and a trenchless method called Cured-in-Place-Pipe Lining (CIPP) to construct the sewer improvements in this project. Below is a description of the work that occurred at each location and the construction methods used.
- NW Lovejoy at NW Cornell: Crews repaired one sewer pipe segment, or 45 feet, using Cured-in-Place-Pipe (CIPP) lining. The lining will seal cracks and help prevent root intrusion. Crews also constructed maintenance holes and storm drain inlet leads.
- NW Lovejoy between NW Marcia and NW Cornell: Crews abandoned old clay sewer pipes that ran behind the curb and near trees. They replaced the clay pipes with 216 feet of reinforced concrete pipe using Open Trench Excavation. Crews also constructed maintenance holes, storm drain inlet leads, and service laterals.
- NW Lovejoy between NW Summit and NW Marcia: Crews abandoned old clay sewer pipes that ran under stairs, behind the curb, and near trees. They replaced the clay pipes with 192 feet of reinforced concrete pipe using Open Trench Excavation. Crews also repaired two pipe segments, or 221 feet, underneath the stairway using Cured-in-Place-Pipe (CIPP) lining. The lining will seal cracks and help prevent root intrusion. Crews will also construct maintenance holes, storm drain inlet leads, and service laterals.
- NW Summit between NW Westover and NW Lovejoy: Crews replaced 393 feet of old clay sewer pipes with upsized, reinforced concrete pipe using Open Trench Excavation. Crews also constructed sewer cleanouts, maintenance holes, storm drain inlet leads, and service laterals.
- NW Westover west of the intersection with NW Summit: Crews replaced 490 feet of old clay sewer pipes with upsized, reinforced concrete pipe using Open Trench Excavation. Crews also constructed maintenance holes, storm drain inlet leads, and service laterals.
Open Trench Excavation is the traditional method of sewer construction and the most common method for installing a new sewer pipe. It consists of digging down to the required depth, installing a new pipe, and then backfilling the trench.
CIPP involves inserting a flexible liner inside the existing pipe, inflating the liner, and exposing it to heat or ultraviolet light to dry and harden the liner inside the pipe. The liner essentially forms a smooth surface inside the existing pipe, restoring it to near-new condition.
Pavement restoration occurred after all work was completed and passed inspections.
Learn more about these construction methods.
Project Background
Environmental Services completed two urgent sewer repairs in this area in 2020. Issues and investigations associated with those repairs led to this new and larger project to make public sewer improvements in NW Westover Road, NW Summit Avenue, and NW Lovejoy Street.
The prior urgent sewer repairs were as follows:
- Urgent Pipe Repair Between NW Westover and NW Summit—In January of 2020, crews completed an urgent public sewer repair that was located in private property between NW Westover Road and NW Summit Avenue.
- Small Pipe Repair in NW Westover—In late October of 2020, crews repaired a small, 50-foot section of sewer pipe located in NW Westover Road.
The project currently in construction will increase capacity of the mainline public sewer and reduce the risks of basement sewer backups and street flooding in the area.
We Want to Hear from You
Environmental Services will respond to questions and concerns in a timely manner. We encourage you to:
- With questions or comments, please contact Cheryl Kuck by email or phone 503-823-7898.
- If you have a question or concern, please be sure to include your name, property address, and project name (NW Westover Road) in your voicemail and email so we can provide you more details about what happened in front of your property.
- If your basement sewer backs up or your property or street floods, please report it immediately to the City’s Maintenance Operations hotline at 503-823-1700. It is staffed 24/7, all hours and all days.
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This project will help protect the health of the Willamette River Watershed.