Microtunneling drives progress on Calgary’s TransCanada sanitary trunk
(P&GJ) — Construction on the TransCanada Sanitary Trunk (TCST) in Calgary continued to advance through late 2025, with crews completing multiple microtunneled pipe segments and reaching key milestones in shaft and manhole construction.
Project officials reported that pipe installation by microtunneling has been completed between Manhole (MH) 6 and MH10 and between MH18 and MH24, while open-trench installation was finished between MH3 and MH6. Overall, the project has reached approximately 30% pipe installation, 70% shaft installation, and 13% manhole construction.
Microtunneling and preparatory work is ongoing at several locations both north and south of the TransCanada Highway. Construction is proceeding out of numerical sequence across the project’s 26 manhole locations, a strategy intended to maintain flexibility and efficiency as crews rotate tunneling equipment between shafts.
The TCST is an 8.5-km (5.3-mile) sanitary trunk designed to expand wastewater capacity for western Calgary and regional customers, including the Town of Cochrane, as population growth pushes the existing Valley Ridge Sanitary Trunk toward capacity. Of the total alignment, approximately 7.3 km (4.5 miles) will be installed using microtunneling, with the remaining 1.2 km (0.75 miles) constructed by open trench.
Microtunneling operations resumed in early January at several sites following a scheduled pause in December, with additional shaft construction, hydrovac utility locating, and equipment retrieval planned through spring 2026. Construction began in April 2025 and is scheduled to continue through Q4 2026, with final landscaping work extending into 2027.
Project planners say the heavy reliance on microtunneling allows the sanitary trunk to be installed beneath major transportation corridors, sound barriers, and environmentally sensitive areas while minimizing surface disruption, traffic impacts, and disturbance to parks and green space.
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