Commissioner Rob Hunter announced the beginning of the Peachtree Corridor Sewer Improvement project, a series of rehabilitation activities designed to increase capacity along the corridor and extend the lives of the area’s sewers. The remaining phases will involve improvements on the Peachtree Road sewers from Georgia 400 to Roxboro Road and from Shadowlawn Avenue to Maple Drive. The project will primarily affect businesses in the Peachtree Road Corridor, since most homes in the area are on different sewer lines.
“This program will ensure that this growing area of the City has the capacity necessary to support development,” Hunter said. “It also will extend the structural life of the area’s sewers by 50 years.”
Once the evaluation of the sewers is completed, the City will determine the most effective method of rehabilitation. Potential rehabilitation methods include:
· Pipe bursting, a trenchless method of sewer reconstruction by which a plastic pipe of equal or larger diameter to the pipe being replaced is pulled through the existing sewer, which is then “burst;” and
· Cured-in-place-pipelining, during which a flexible liner is installed in the existing sewer pipe.
These methods are preferred for work in heavily developed areas because they do not necessitate extensive trenching and pose the least disruption to the community’s extensive underground utility systems.
The Peachtree Corridor sewers were identified as needing immediate attention because the Georgia Department of Transportation plans to widen and improve that section of Peachtree Road. In an effort to minimize disruption, the schedules for the two projects are being coordinated. The rehabilitation is part of the City’s capacity relief efforts, mandated by the Consent Decrees. The sewer rehabilitation program is part of the $3.2 billion Clean Water Atlanta program designed to overhaul the City’s aging water and sewer infrastructure and provide residents and downstream communities with the cleanest, safest drinking water possible at the lowest possible cost.
During the Peachtree Corridor Sewer Improvement program, residents may face temporary road closures and other minor inconveniences. “We ask residents for their patience and understanding,” Hunter said. “We promise that these improvements ultimately will be worth the trouble.”
For more information on this and other Clean Water Atlanta projects, please visit the Clean Water Atlanta website, www.cleanwateratlanta.org.