Measure P to repair several Monterey storm drains

The City of Monterey is hard at work repairing storm drains. Repairs are taking place under streets in Old Town, Downtown, and the Monterey Vista Neighborhoods. Rain or shine, the work has to be done to fix the system.

Monterey has an extensive storm drain system, it’s made up of about 100 miles of pipeline, some of it 50 to 100 years old. Public Works constantly monitors the system’s conditions and when conditions reach a certain point, repairs become critical, and taxpayer money is footing the bill with Measure P.

“Measure P allowed us to repair all of our pipes in a D or F rating. It’s like going to school, we have A pipes, B pipes, C, D and F. So the D and F pipes are our worst pipes. We have about 48 pipe segments, roughly about 5,000 feet that are in need of repair,” said Steve Wittry, the City Engineer.

The repairs will bring the D and F rated drains up to an A standard and the repairing method is efficient. Public Works is using a trench-less technology called cast-in-place pipeline. A tube that’s covered with a fiberglass material is put into the storm drain. Once inside it’s inflated with steam, as it expands it coats the inside of the storm drain with that new fiberglass material. Thus fixing the problem from the inside out. So digging up the city streets is not needed.

“And when that process is completed, we essentially have a brand new pipe in place. The process takes a matter of hours to complete, as opposed to days or weeks of construction,” said Wittry.

The City said these repairs will protect streets from sinkholes, a reality roads could face if the storm drains were to go un-fixed, especially during the rainy winter season.

“So what happens is when large water goes through that pipeline it can actually pull dirt into the pipeline from the surrounding area and can cause minor sinkholes and things of that nature,” said Wittry.

Crews will be out through next Monday, February 2nd, repairing more pipelines. Only noise, a few lane closures, and a harmless odor are to be of concern.