Company Info

When the Canadian National Intermodal Yard in Markham, Ill.—owned by the Canadian National Railroad (CNR)—expanded in late 2010, its storm water system had to be reconfigured. In fact, the system needed to be able to handle an additional 33,000-plus cu ft of storm water.

Normally, the designers and contractors would have added an aboveground basin for increased capacity. In this case, however, the yard needed every available inch of space it could get for shipping container storage and processing. For this reason, an underground solution seemed to be the answer, but space was limited there as well, and heavily loaded trucks pass through the area regularly. Because of its function, the yard also could not afford to be closed for very long, which meant a tight construction schedule.

With all of this in mind, the CNR hired Remprex Eng. Services to design the project and K-Five Construction to carry it out. They turned to StormTrap, an Illinois-based manufacturer of precast concrete modules, for help designing the new configuration. Once the design was decided, things moved quickly. In fact, all 78 precast concrete modules were installed in a single day.

“The installation went very smoothly,” said Chad Hewitt, P.E., the project manager. “The expediency of the system fabrication and installation was an asset to the overall project schedule.”

Besides keeping out of the way, another perk of the new storm water management system is its easy maintenance. Hewitt liked it because “you open a manhole and can walk inside to clean or inspect the entire underground structure.”

Ultimately, the entire project was completed in nine days.

At the 2011 NPCA Show in Charlotte, NC, UCP placed third in the NPCA’s CUP (Creative Use of Precast) Awards for its work on an underground stormwater management system. Designed by UCP’s sister company, StormTrap, the system was installed in just one day for Canadian National’s new intermodal automated gate system in Chicago and provided a 20% savings over the originally planned system.

After installation, there was no time needed for curing or coverage to final grade, and the surface was immediately ready for construction traffic to keep the project moving. Throughout the life of a stormwater detention system, debris and other settlement from stormwater collects in the storage system, and the provided system offered easy access for future cleaning.

StormTrap, storm water management systems, expands business into Canada. We are pleased to offer our innovative storm water products and exceptional service to the Canadian market.

Please contact us regarding the details of your project and we will promptly provide you a custom StormTrap design and quotation.

Justin May – Vice-President – 877-867-6872 – jmay@stormtrap.com

Dean Gross, P.E. – Canadian Sales Engineer – 815-258-1261 – dgross@stormtrap.com