JEA Begins River Crossing Project

2016-02-24

Jacksonville, FL -  JEA is starting construction on a project to install a new sanitary sewer force main under the St. Johns River from the north bank near  Everbank Field to an existing JEA sewer pump station located on the south bank on Utah Avenue. Click here for full project details.

Sanitary sewer force mains are a critical piece of JEA’s sewer collection system, designed to transport high volumes of wastewater to one of 11 wastewater treatment facilities located throughout our service territory.  This newest sewer force main will provide redundancy for the existing main that is a vital piece of JEA’s sewer infrastructure.

JEA will be installing 4,200 linear feet (3/4 mile) of 42-inch steel casing and 36-inch high-density polyethylene (HDPE) carrier pipe 50 feet under the river bed of the St. Johns River using the horizontal directional drilling (HDD) method of construction. HDD is a steerable, trenchless method of installing underground pipes. HDD is often used when digging or trenching is not practical for installing pipe, such as under a water body.

JEA will be required to temporarily close portions of the sports complex parking areas at Everbank Field during construction activities. Sections of Lots P, J, and R will be fenced intermittently from February 25 through August 4, 2016 during various stages of construction.

These closures will also include sections of Adams Street, Duval Street, E. Beaver Street and Franklin Street within the sports complex parking areas.

Project highlights include:

• The existing sewer force main was constructed by the City of Jacksonville in the early 1970s
• Total estimated cost of this project is about $12 million
• The existing pipe currently transports more than 10 million gallons of wastewater per day
• The two pipes will be able to handle up to a peak flow of 16.7 million gallons per day
• These pipes serve more than 50,000 JEA sewer customers
• 35 large tractor trailers will be used to deliver 105 “sticks” of 40’ steel pipe
• The total weight of the steel being installed is more than 1,353,000 pounds
• The new pipe is expected to be in service for at least 40-50 years

JEA is the eighth-largest community-owned electric utility in the United States and one of the largest water and sewer utilities in the nation providing electric, water and sewer service to residents and businesses in northeast Florida. 

Category:

• construction
• sewer