| After a year and a half of construction, the City of Fort Lauderdale celebrated the successful activation of its new 7-mile redundant sewer force main. Mayor Dean J. Trantalis, District II Commissioner Steve Glassman, and District IV Commissioner Ben Sorensen opened a valve in Victoria Park to fully activate the new transmission line after a ceremony outside St. Demetrios Greek Orthodox Church near NE 8 Street where the work of the two contractors involved in the project connected. The City invested $65 million to construct the new sewer force main line that extends from the George T. Lohmeyer Wastewater Treatment Plant on SE 17 Street to a lift station at the Coral Ridge Country Club on NE 37 Street. Fort Lauderdale hired two contractors to work simultaneously on the project to expedite construction. David Mancini & Sons installed the southern portion of the line from the treatment plant to NE 8 Street and Murphy Pipeline installed the northern portion of the line from NE 8 Street to NE 37 Street. “This tremendous accomplishment illustrates the City’s commitment to thoroughly addressing our infrastructure needs to ensure that we have a system that serves our growing city,” Mayor Trantalis announced shortly before activating the line. “Fort Lauderdale took a bold approach to establish a redundant line using state-of-the-art resilient materials that will allow us to provide reliable wastewater service to our neighbors and surrounding municipalities and prevent unfortunate incidents like the series of breaks that occurred beginning in December 2019,” Trantalis concluded. The new line is made of high-density polyethylene pipe (HDPE) which is more resistant to corrosion than iron and has fewer mechanical joints and is more flexible. This will reduce maintenance needs and improve the line’s resilience to rising groundwater tables and sea level rise. The line was installed using a process called underground directional drilling, a trenchless method that is more efficient than traditional open-cut construction and results in less disruption to roads and traffic. |
Glassman thanked everyone involved in making this project possible including City staff and the teams from David Mancini & Sons and Murphy Pipeline. Commissioner Glassman also thanked the City’s residents for their patience throughout construction. He said this project as an example of how the Fort Lauderdale City Commission confronts challenges head-on. “This is a historic day for the City of Fort Lauderdale. This is an amazing accomplishment and I am just so proud to be here to celebrate it,” he added.
The project was accomplished in 18 months and has already earned two awards due to its complexity and scope. One of the awards comes from the Plastics Pipe Institute, the North American trade association that represents the plastics piping industry and earlier this year named it Project of the Year for the Municipal & Industrial Division.
Sorensen encouraged staff from the City’s Public Works Department and both construction firms to step forward to be recognized. “The City of Fort Lauderdale is investing in infrastructure like never before,” he said as he reaffirmed the City’ commitment to improving its infrastructure. Commissioner Sorensen explained that this is being done so “when you come to Fort Lauderdale to live, play, and work, it’s a city you are proud of.”
Following the activation of this new line, the original line will be taken out of service, rehabilitated, and maintained. This will result in the Fort Lauderdale having two wastewater transmission lines and a truly redundant system that will enable the City to use either line as needed and minimize interruptions to service during future emergencies or maintenance periods.
