Crews will mobilize at three key areas in Calgary’s northwest where around-the-clock work will begin on a replacement for the Bearspaw South feeder main.

Work sites will open up on Jan. 23 on Stage A of the Bearspaw South feeder main replacement project, which will go from the Shaganappi Pump Station, extending to 73 Street NW on the west side of the Bow River.

It is a parallel steel pipe of the same size as the existing Bearspaw feeder main, and once complete it will take over service from the existing main.

The City of Calgary said Thursday that construction will happen following the site setup, with crews working around the clock to complete the project.

The replacement pipe is now expected to be complete by December 2026. That includes both stages: the Stage A section that’s four kilometres and the Stage B section that’s roughly two kilometres, according to Infrastructure Services GM Michael Thompson.

“(Crews) have started mobilizing, and you’ll see them starting to bring equipment in right away,” said Thompson.

“We are still working on the plan and the design for the second two kilometers, which is from the Sarcee interchange through the community of Bowness to the Bow River.”

Construction site setups are taking place at the following locations:

• Edworthy Park, near a section of the Bow River Pathway in the Edworthy Park North Parking lot
• Shouldice Park, between 16 Avenue N.W. and Bowness Road N.W.
• Sarcee Trail site, near 73 Street N.W. and Bonita Crescent N.W.

Residents and mobility users in the area will set temporary fencing and barriers, site offices, tree protection measures, heavy machinery, construction signage, and other activities.

Thompson said the City of Calgary is very aware that the acceleration of the project is going to cause disruptions in the neighbourhoods where work is being done.

“There will definitely be disruption as we deliver this project. We are not sure what that looks like yet, but as we accelerate this, there will be additional disruption. So we apologize to anyone working or living around the areas, as we need to really advance this critical infrastructure to have it completed before next winter. It’s really balancing the impact to the entire community and the safety of making sure we have safe, clean drinking water for everyone, versus those localized impacts.”

The City of Calgary said that more information on Stage B – which goes from 73 Street NW to 89 Street, will be made available as soon as possible.

Cost of expediting the Bearspaw feeder main aren’t yet known

Costs of expediting the project, nor the cost of the Stage B addition, aren’t yet known, though Calgary Mayor Jeromy Farkas commented earlier in the week that it could run in the hundreds of millions of dollars.

“There’s a significant amount of money that’s already been put on the table,” Farkas said, referring to the last council’s $1.1 billion dollar investment in water infrastructure, which this current council endorsed.

“We’re looking at this replacement pipe, phase A and phase B, to the tune of a mega project. So, we need to rally to support this to the scale of likely, hundreds of millions of dollars.”

The Stage A contract was awarded to Ward & Burke Microtunneling, and to Graham Construction and Engineering as the construction manager.

According to the City of Calgary, the microtunneling approach will be used for Stage A because of crossings at 16 Avenue, the Bow River, Sarcee Trail and the CPKC rail line.

To stay on top of the construction updates, you can tune into the Bearspaw project website.