Details

Published: April 22 2020

The City of Fort Lauderdale has reached a major milestone in the Rio Vista Force Main Replacement project. Approximately 2,000 linear feet of new underground pipe that stretches from SE 9 Avenue and SE 7 Street to SE 10 Avenue and SE 12 Street has been successfully activated. Having the new sewer line fully operational enables the City to begin dismantling the above-ground bypass line that was installed along SE 9 Avenue following the sewer main break in December 2019. 

Crews are currently disassembling the above-ground bypass line and are expected to have if fully removed by the end of the week. Once removed, the City will begin reopening SE 9 Avenue and adjacent cross streets to vehicular and pedestrian traffic.

The new sewer main in Rio Vista is part of a larger $65 million infrastructure improvement project that is currently underway to install a new 7.5 mile sewer line from the Coral Ridge Country Club Wastewater Lift Station to the G.T. Lohmeyer Wastewater Treatment Plant (GTL). The new sewer force main will help upgrade infrastructure, create redundancy, enhance reliability, and improve services for neighbors throughout the community.

The pipe is being installed using a technique called underground directional boring, which eliminates the need to dig up the entire street, makes for a quicker more efficient installation, and requires much less time for restoration work. Two contractors are working simultaneously to expedite construction of the new line. David Mancini & Sons is installing the southern portion of the new sewer main and Murphy Pipeline is installing the northern portion of the pipe.

Mayor Dean J. Trantalis announced the first major milestone on March 12, when the new high-density polyethylene (HDPE) pipe was successfully installed on SE 9 Avenue in Rio Vista. See video of pipe pull here.