SANFORD, Fla. – Starting Monday, drivers in Sanford will notice new road closures as the city continues work on a major upgrade to the stormwater system east of downtown.
Locust Avenue will be closed for new storm drainage installation and roadway restoration. Detours will be in place for East 5th Street to East 2nd Street.
East 4th Street will also be closed with a detour from Locust Avenue to Orange Avenue.
Work on the Georgetown Drainage Improvement and Roadway Project has been underway for about a year now. Crews are currently in Phase 1 and expect the entire project will be finished in four phases.
Project Manager Jeff Davis walked News 6 through the construction site near 1st Street and Locust Avenue to show what they’ve accomplished and what still needs to be done.
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“What we’re trying to do is add more capacity to the system and take it out to the lake. We’ve had some other flooding issues in certain areas of Georgetown and everything, so this is going to address that part of the drainage basin first,” Davis said. “And then, as we move on for the next 10, 15, 20 years, we’ll address other parts of the drainage basin as funds become available.”
Flooding has been a topic of discussion in Sanford for years as aging infrastructure has struggled to keep up with modern demand. This project aims to reduce demand on the existing Pump Branch drainage system, one of the major drainage basins in the downtown area that all connect to Lake Monroe.
The project is part of a much larger drainage basin project, which is the Pump Branch drainage basin, which is a huge drainage basin. It goes all the way up to State Road 46, up there to the Sanford Airport,” said Davis.
Improvements made to the Pump Branch system and the Mellonville Avenue system will better manage stormwater. The city also plans on making road improvements to curbs, gutters, and sidewalks.
During phase 1, a new stormwater main trunkline will be installed from Lake Monroe to 8th Street and then down 8th Street.
“If you look right here going down the road, down the center of the road there’s a huge 72-inch pipe run that runs all the way to 4th street,” Davis said as he showed our News 6 crew Locust Avenue. “It’s going to go east to Orange Avenue and that’s where this particular phase of the project will end.
Crews have already completed the section all the way to the lake front, which involved work to punch through the sea wall.
The area of Seminole Boulevard flooded after Hurricane Milton and also after Hurricane Ian. In the past, heavy rain has even washed-out parts of the streets downtown.
“Particularly over by where the museum is at, where the old pipe goes across,” Davis said. “That part’s been basically repaired by adding the new pipes that are coming out. It takes a lot of pressure off that particular system.”
Davis says the second phase of the drainage project will likely start sometime in March or April of next year. There will be road closures and traffic detours throughout the area in the coming years.
“The end result is the benefit. Not having standing water, having a rebuilt road,” said Davis. “Now’s the best time to address it. Sanford is growing and it’s only going to have more and more problems if we don’t address these problems now. The pipes we have in the ground now, some of them are over 150 years old. So, if we don’t take care of them now, as long as we have the resources to do it, it’s best to go ahead and get it done.”
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