LAN to Design Major East Texas Utility Project

The City of Tyler, Texas, selected civil engineering firm Lockwood, Andrews & Newnam, Inc. (LAN) to design improvements to two of its major sanitary sewer basins.

The East Texas city’s wastewater collection system includes more than 690 miles of sewer mains ranging in sizes from 6-inches to 54-inches in diameter, more than 9,000 manholes, and 24 sewage pump stations. Currently, nearly 50 percent of the existing sewer system is over 50 years old.

Tyler developed and implemented a Capacity, Management, Operation and Maintenance (CMOM) program in April 2017 to perform a comprehensive review and upgrade its wastewater collection system, as well as enhance its existing operation and maintenance practices.

Scott Taylor, managing director of Tyler’s Utilities and Public Works department, said the CMOM improvements are a critical piece of the #Time to Build campaign unveiled by the Tyler City Council in 2016. To rebuild Tyler’s aging water and sewer systems, city officials pledged $100 million dollars on 100 projects over the next 10 years. Last year alone, the City spent $20 million dollars, 13 percent of the City’s total budget, on maintenance, repair and improvements. The City projects that 65 to 75 percent of these projects will be paid for in cash from the Tyler Water Utilities Fund.

“The state of our infrastructure is one of the most pressing issues we face as a community,” said Taylor, adding that much of Tyler’s infrastructure has reached the end of its useful life. “Our jobs, quality of life, economic competitiveness and public safety are all dependent upon it.”

The City prioritized improvements to sanitary sewer basins 8 and 15. A team led by LAN will prioritize, package, design and support construction for all improvements to the basins, which include 379 pipeline segments (more than 46,000 linear feet of pipeline) and nearly 900 manholes. Garver, an Arkansas-based engineering firm, will provide design support to LAN while Adams Engineering, a local Tyler firm, will be providing consulting, construction management and inspection services.

“The City is executing a number of measures to manage, operate and maintain its wastewater collection system systematically and efficiently, and better respond to emergencies such as sanitary sewer overflows,” said Justin Reeves, P.E., LAN’s senior associate and team leader. “The improvements to these two sanitary sewer basins is a big step in that direction.”

The design phase will be completed in 2019. Construction on the $10 million project will be completed in December 2020.

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