Fort Lauderdale’s new sewer force main named project of the year

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Florida Construction News staff writer

The City of Fort Lauderdale public works department was recognized at the recent American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) Florida Section 2022 Annual Conference with the 2022 Project of the Year award for the Redundant Sewer Force Main Project.

Following a year and a half of construction, the new 7-mile redundant sewer force main was activated after a ceremony in Victoria Park in September.

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.

“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.

The project has earned several awards due to its complexity and scope, including one 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.

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