43 JULY 2022 WorldWide Drilling Resource® Fort Lauderdale HDD Project Wins Three Awards Adapted from Information by Hazen and fortlauderdale.gov A horizontal directional drilling (HDD) project in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, was recently honored with three different awards. The awards include a Grand Award from the American Council of Engineering Companies of Florida, Trenchless Technology Project of the Year New Installation Honorable Mention, and the Florida Section of the American Society of Civil Engineers Broward Branch Project of the Year. In December 2019, Fort Lauderdale experienced numerous breaks to its aging sewer transmission main, resulting in over 200 million gallons of sewage spilling into nearby waterways. After these breaks, the city declared an emergency and awarded two design-build contracts within two months of the first break. To expedite the project, it was divided into north and south sections and awarded to two teams to design, permit, and construct each phase concurrently. The emergency pipeline project included installation of a new seven-mile, large-diameter (48-inch and 54-inch) high-density polyethylene (HDPE) force main. Based on previous successful projects, approximately six miles of HDPE pipe was installed using trenchless technology via 17 HDD bores through the heart of downtown Fort Lauderdale and adjacent residential areas. HDPE pipe will reduce maintenance needs and improve the line’s resilience to rising groundwater tables and sea levels. The city invested $65 million for this project which falls under the Sewer Design and Implementation Program involving a series of projects included in the Florida Department of Environmental Protection’s Consent Order. The project’s original schedule was 49 months. Design-build delivery, trenchless technology, and HDPE pipe enabled completion in 18 months - an impressive feat considering the project, which required procurement of pipe with unique sizing and dimension ratio, was executed during a pandemic. Following activation of the new line, the original line will be taken out of service, rehabilitated, and maintained. This will result in Fort Lauderdale having two wastewater transmission lines and a truly redundant system enabling the city to use either line as needed to minimize interruptions to service during future emergencies or maintenance periods. DIR Photo courtesy of Hazen.
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