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Title: Protecting River Crossings From External Damage
Author: David W. Denham, Richard F. Lewinsky,
Source: American Gas Association 1971
Year Published: 1971
Abstract: WHILE the subject is protecting river crossings from external damage and we shall discuss our companys solution to a particular problem, an exhibition of the tribulations on our way to that solution may aid some in avoiding the errors and pitfalls which marked our path. In the spring of 1965, the gas department of Northern States Power Company confidently prepared for high water on the Mississippi River where it passes through St. Paul, Minnesota. Two of the three river crossings serving the St. Paul division successfully withstood the flood of 1952 when the water level through downtown St. Paul reached 19 feel above normal and the maximum discharge reached 125,000 cfs or 16 times normal. The third crossing was installed in 1957, at greater depth than the others. The 1965 flood (Fig. 1) was expected to be four to five feet over the previous record, but the addition of new flood walls and the assurance of the Corps of Engineers that they were sufficient left us with only the relatively minor problem of high ground water and some backwater to contend with. Thats what we thought. On April 20 old man Neptune blew the whistle and we learned the power of the river. The water was 25 feet deep over the portion of our island crossing which crossed the flood plain, with a discharge of 171,000 cfs. But there was an eightfoot well-consolidated cover overgrown 720r - with brush and small trees which had been in place since 1942. On April 20, 1965, the first of the pair of mains broke, causing some consternation. Subsequent examination by means of a diver, probing and fathometer revealed that a hole 12 feet deep and even more had been gouged in supposedly solid ground.

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