When it comes to sewer repairs, we're being told that there are just 12 more months of street closings, traffic rerouting and dirt with which to contend.
But city officials say some streets will have to be torn up again to replace water pipes, and then there's that little problem of streets that have been overlaid so many times with asphalt, they are built right up to the curb.
"It's likely that we're going to have to put up with the traffic inconvenience for the next 20 years," said Assistant City Manager John Jones. He said that the streets are being repaired with "surface stuff that's good for five or six years", but eventually — after the sewers and water lines and storm water drains are repaired— the streets will have to be torn down to the bedrock to rebuild the infrastructure. Overall, $50 million will be needed to do the job right— roughly $1 million-a-mile.
"Truman is the only road we won't have to do over again because the state fixed that one," Jones said.
Although the inconvenience and frustrations of street closings and traffic congestion will be with us for years to come, City Utilities Director, David Fernandez, says it could be worse. "Whenever we can, we try to be the `Good Guys" by permitting local traffic to travel through the construction zones," said Fernandez. "During normal construction, any other utility closes the streets completely. With about 12 months to go, 40 miles of sewer repair is already in the bank. That's 80 percent of the island completed."
Because Florida Keys Aqueduct Authority's (FKAA) staffing and funding for water pipe replacement has not been compatible with the city's fast-forward of sewer repairs, Fernandez says most streets will be ripped up as many as three different times to accommodate sewer, water and periodic storm water drain repair:
"But we're not putting good asphalt on the streets in between the various repairs," he said.
City Engineer Roland Flowers coordinates City Electric, FKAA, Bell South and Public Works activity, and he says, "the real road work won't begin until after all the utilities' are finished. But by combining as much utility funding as possible, we get a better product for the streets' maintenance overlays.
"Street closures and sites under construction are listed in several newspapers each week, but it's difficult to keep everybody advised of all but the most visible areas like Eaton or Simonton Streets," said Flowers. "We'll be moving East of White Street in the next couple of weeks, so the impact on the volume of traffic should subside a little."
Assistant City Manager Jones says right now there are four major contractors at work, and "ump-teen smaller ones. The sewer work is being condensed into 18 months, and we're not going to quit. "
David Fernandez puts the street closings out there faithfully, and only rain puts us a day or two behind schedule," said Jones. "We're trying to get to a point where everyone can call a hotline to get roadwork information daily; we're trying to find some sugar to help make this easier for everyone to swallow."