TAMPA, Fla. — One of downtown Tampa’s busiest intersections will be shut down for over a month as the city begins to install the final section of a massive wastewater pipeline.
It's taken nearly four years to construct a tunnel for the pipe 60 feet below the water surface in Tampa Bay.
The micro-tunnel, as it’s called, is almost a mile and a half long. The pipe in it will carry more than a fourth of the city’s wastewater – about 15 million gallons per day.
“This is the big one,” said the city’s wastewater department director Eric Weiss. “The others are like down your street and to your house, in your neighborhood. But this one serves such a large area.”
The job is so big that the city will have to shut down Water Street at the intersection of Franklin Street near the Tampa Convention Center for a full month.
Traffic can still access the Harbor Island Bridge, which was welcomed news for people who live and work there.
“I had no idea that they had built that underground over the last two years," Chris Corgan said, who lives in the area. "So, hopefully, they have the same kind of work ethic and grind that they did on the first project and can get this finished up quickly.”
The road closure could make it tougher to reach nearby hotels, Amalie Arena and local businesses like the Bright Ice Cream shop.
“If anything, the parking spots might affect Uber orders,” said Lily Saja, who works at Bright Ice. “Third-party orders if anything because they won't be able to walk up that easily, parking and running into grab stuff, but I think for our foot traffic customers hopefully shouldn't have too much of an impact as long as people don't think they can't still walk down here.”
When finished, the pipeline will connect the wastewater treatment facility at Port Tampa Bay with the Krause Street pumping station on South Ashley Drive.
It replaces a 54-inch pipeline that first went into service in 1951 and is a key part of a 20-year plan to replace the city's aging infrastructure.
“We're no different than any other municipality our age around Florida," Weiss said. "We have aging infrastructure. Over 60% of it is over 50 years old. So, it's old.”
The city knew this was coming, so they plan to have plenty of message boards and detour signs to let people know how to get around the construction. There will also be more closures to come.
A second phase of the $83 million project is expected to start near the beginning of March, and Franklin Street will be closed, but the city says it will be able to reopen Water Street by then, so people trying to access the convention center and Harbor Island will still be able to do so.