Undergound utilities upgrade work in downtown Nanaimo has stopped after the construction project found itself on unfirm footing.
The work, being carried out in preparation for the downtown renewal project, involved trenching to replace old water mains on Commercial Street, but was halted when test drilling discovered a mine void under the Bastion and Commercial streets intersection in late September and it was feared that trenching to lay new pipes could pose a risk to workers.
Downtown merchants, such as Leon Drzewiecki, owner of NYLA Fresh Thread, say theyB次元官网网址檝e already suffered impacts to their businesses from street closures due to construction work and TV filming and are still trying to recover from the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. They're frustrated at the notion of any delay in the current project, he said, adding the city should have known about the mine void before starting construction and closing sections of Commercial Street.
B次元官网网址淭hey started getting everything done, opening up the streets, getting it happening and then after two weeks of them doing that they brought down the drilling equipment,B次元官网网址� Drzewiecki said. B次元官网网址淭he drilling equipment now has found voids under the street, mine shafts under the street. Now everythingB次元官网网址檚 on full stop B次元官网网址� so weB次元官网网址檙e waiting for the engineerB次元官网网址檚 report to come back to see how theyB次元官网网址檙e going to proceed and they canB次元官网网址檛 even put a shovel in the ground now until the engineers come back. The best-case scenario is itB次元官网网址檚 going to be weeks. Most likely it looks like itB次元官网网址檚 going to be months, so now their end date of next May is going to be blown out of the water.B次元官网网址�
Drzewiecki said a lot of businesses downtown canB次元官网网址檛 weather 10 months of poor sales.
B次元官网网址淯nfortunately, NYLA Fresh Thread has been down here for 10 years and this might be our last Christmas,B次元官网网址� he said.
Bill Sims, NanaimoB次元官网网址檚 general manager of engineering and public works, said in an e-mail the city has long been aware of the mine under the street and geotechnical drilling was conducted in 2023 before work started.
B次元官网网址淲e knew the mine was there B次元官网网址� which is why we did exploratory drilling in 2023, and made a provision for further exploration in 2024,B次元官网网址� Sims said. B次元官网网址淭he original mine would have been deep enough to not create too much concern, but in many cases of coal mines, the roof starts to erode and fall into the mine.B次元官网网址�
Sims explained this process is called 'stoping' and migrates upward and often eventually appears at the surface. The void created is not necessarily a cavernous hole underground.
B次元官网网址淲e believe thatB次元官网网址檚 what weB次元官网网址檙e witnessing here,B次元官网网址� Sims said. B次元官网网址淚tB次元官网网址檚 not a massive void B次元官网网址� more of an air pocket B次元官网网址� but because of the looseness of the soil, it poses a risk if we dig a trench down closer to it.B次元官网网址�
These voids were not caused by construction activities, but have been there since the Douglas Seam was worked from 1854-1938. In many cases voids of this nature are only discovered when they appear at the surface in the form of a depression.
Sims said work is continuing away from the air pocket to try to prevent delays in the project schedule.
B次元官网网址淎t this stage we have enough room in the schedule to avoid major impact,B次元官网网址� Sims said. B次元官网网址淗owever, depending on the extents of remediation required, it may create delay. To mitigate this, we are pivoting the work to other areas to ensure that the project continues to progress.B次元官网网址�
Sims said the main priority is to ensure workers arenB次元官网网址檛 at risk, so work will resume south of Bastion Street and then move north of the intersection until the voids are filled with grout. The projectB次元官网网址檚 geotechnical engineering team is working on a grouting program to address the risk of the voids.
B次元官网网址淚tB次元官网网址檚 too early to say how long it will take to resolve, but the priority is to get this fixed ASAP, and also mitigating the schedule challenge by relocating works to other areas,B次元官网网址� Sims said.
