Lift Station 23 Upgrades, Force Main & HDD

Under a separate contract, yet in tandem with the design and construction of the city’s $165 million Enmarket Arena, Hussey Gay Bell was contracted to design the Lift Station 23 Upgrades & Force Main Replacement project to increase capacity in the project area. The project consisted of the upgrade to the pumping capacity of LS 23 to 2,000 GPM by installing a fourth pump and replacing the existing 20-inch force main with approximately 6,000 LF of 30-inch Fusible PVC installed by Horizontal Directional Drill (HDD) at a depth of 100 feet below existing grade in a 36” welded steel casing.

The selection of HDD installation provided numerous advantages. Of note, the installation method provides 1) Low impact to surrounding areas: Since this project encompasses downtown Savannah from east to west, disruption of businesses, traffic, historical sites and tourism was a major consideration. Except at the ends of the HDD installation, there is very little impact to downtown businesses and visitors and 2) Schedule: The force main is able to be replaced more quickly via HDD than traditional open-cut methods. A traditional open-cut installation can exceed 2 years for completion. This HDD installation saves over 2 years of major disruption to downtown Savannah.  Installed by Astra and The HDD Group, this project is anticipated to reach completion in late 2022.