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Best of 2006 Awards
Jersey City Aqueduct Relocation
AWARD OF MERIT: Environmental
 Plans to build a large interchange for the new Exit 15X on the New Jersey Turnpike near Secaucus, N.J., called for an approach road to use a small bridge to cross over the Jersey City Aqueduct, a pair of 72-in. pipes that funnel water to Jersey City, the municipality next door.
But municipal officials worried that the 100-year-old steel pipes were fragile enough that construction and traffic vibrations might cause a rupture. So the Jersey City Municipal Utilities Authority asked the New Jersey Turnpike Authority to relocate and replace the mains, which supply 75 percent of the city’s water.
In September 2004, work began on the $13 million relocation project, which wrapped up in July.
The job involved replacing about 4,000 lin. ft. of pipe by laying down $2 million worth of new steel water mains in a new location. Crews had to work around the steady stream of truck and train traffic that runs through the industrial area on the edge of the Meadowlands. To run the new mains beneath active Norfolk-Southern rail lines, workers had to lay 180 lin. ft. of 80-in. steel casing pipe in a tight 36-hour window negotiated with the railroad. Contractors brought in a pair of heavy-duty cranes to expedite the task, and the job was accomplished on time.
“They generally don’t work under time constraints for this kind of public works project,” said one judge. “Here they had to do certain things, within certain times, because of the railroad operations.”
Most of the work avoided disturbing the old pipes. Where the new mains tied into the old, crews took one pipe offline at a time, so that Jersey City was always supplied by at least one water main throughout the project.
Another judge was impressed with the project’s overall scope, especially the challenges of doing it among “all of the other spaghetti that’s down there.” But it was the railroad crossing that stood out.
“They had to drive 180 ft. in 36 hours to get it done underneath the railroad,” the judge said. “You need to maintain the infrastructure while it’s going on. You don’t have a year and a half to get it built. The coordination and teamwork on those projects is fantastic.”
Key Players
Owner: New Jersey Turnpike Authority
Construction Manager: DMJM Harris
Designer: RBA Group
General Contractor: The Conti Group
Steel Pipe Welding: National Welding
Water Main Disinfection: Kor-Ko Ltd.
Resident Engineer: Boswell Engineering
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