LAN to design major Tyler, Texas, utility improvements

Dallas — 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 City of Tyler’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 (also known as lift stations). Currently, nearly 50 percent of the existing sewer system is over 50 years old.

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

To this end, the city is implementing improvements to sanitary sewer basins 8 and 15, which were identified as the highest priority basins. A team led by LAN will select prioritize, package, design, and support construction for all improvements to these two basins, which includes 379 pipeline segments (more than 46,000 linear feet of pipeline) and almost 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.

Scott Taylor, City of Tyler’s managing director utilities and public works, 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. “Our jobs, quality of life, economic competitiveness and public safety are all dependent upon it. Much of Tyler’s infrastructure (streets, water systems, drainage systems and sewer systems) has reached the end of its useful life. Two years ago, the Tyler City Council made a pledge to modernize and build anew our community’s infrastructure. The benefits of this stronger, better infrastructure system will be far-reaching and long-lasting.”