Kenny Construction Begins Three $26 Million Term Contracts for City of Chicago

Kenny Construction has begun work under three term contracts valued at $26 million each for the City of Chicago, Department of Water Management (DWM) to renew aging wastewater pipe in the city’s 100-year-old system.

Kenny Construction is using Inliner Technologies’ method of cured-in-place pipe (CIPP) to rehabilitate up to 360,000 ft of combined sewer pipe over a five-year period, with each contract having a two-year option to renew.

The City is home to more than 4,400 miles of sewer, which has deteriorated throughout the years and is prone to collapse. DWM divided the rehabilitation area into three districts — North, Central and South. The contracts call for renewal of up to 120,000 ft of combined sewer pipe in each district to restore structural integrity and reduce inflow and infiltration (I/I).

Under this term contract, Kenny Construction provides up to three crews to work the three areas, which are divided as south of 63rd Street, between 63rd Street and North Avenue and north of North Avenue. Most pipes in these areas range between 10 and 48 in. in diameter.

DWM is utilizing robotic cameras to record pipe conditions, investigating which areas need to be targeted first for rehabilitation. Kenny Construction will then renew the pipes using Inliner’s  CIPP method.

“The city is focusing primarily on the old brick sewers that are in dire condition,” said Ralph Bonanotte, general manager of Kenny Construction.

The contract also encompasses lateral lining and point repair work, with large-diameter pipe lining being bid separately. “The term agreements allow us to be more efficient in the way we push jobs through the system,” said Wallace Davis III, general superintendent, Sewer Rehabilitation Program. “Some days we will be lining three segments a day, whereas previously we might have lined one per week.

“By being proactive, rather than reactive, we are catching problems before there are any cave-ins,” Davis added. “And by reducing I/I, we’ll only be treating the flows the system was designed for.”

Davis credited this innovative lining program to the vision of Mayor Richard M. Daley. “Mayor Daley recognizes that cured-in-place pipe technology allows us to renew the infrastructure along arterial streets without disrupting the community with street closures. And the cost-savings to taxpayers are plentiful — CIPP can be installed for about one-fifth the cost of pipe replacement.”

Inliner Technologies Inc. is one of the largest CIPP companies in the United States, with four certified installers performing pipe renewal projects throughout the nation. Certified installers include Reynolds Inliner; Western Slope Utilities; Kenny Construction Co.; and Lametti & Sons. Reynolds Inliner and Inliner Technologies are part of the Layne Christensen (LAYN) family of companies.