Construction will resume April 9 on the $7.4 million Manatee County Force Main 5 pipe replacement project on Gulf Drive.
Next on the schedule is 10th Street North at Gulf Drive — the area of Gulf Drive Cafe and Tiki in Bradenton Beach. It will close to motorists after work resumes and is expected to remain closed through the end of April. A detour east on 11th Street North will route travelers to Bay Drive North and back out to Gulf Drive.
Sidewalks will be closed on the east side of Gulf Drive between Ninth and 10th streets north during this phase of work. Temporary crosswalks will be installed north of 10th Street North and south of Ninth Street North.
This portion of the work is expected to conclude at the end of April.
Traffic also will be shifted west of Gulf Drive in Bradenton Beach to allow for construction of the new force main between 28th and 26th streets north, according to Tina Allen, Manatee County communications specialist for the project.
Another phase of construction on Gulf Drive in Bradenton Beach, between the intersection of Avenue C and Gulf Drive southward to Cortez Road, is set to begin May 1 and conclude June 29, according to Allen.
The detours are necessitated by a 16-inch water main being installed on Avenue C, according to Allen. Crews also will lay force main pipe down the center of Avenue C from 24th Street to Gulf Drive, Allen said.
The water mains supply drinking water through pressurized pipelines to customers, while force mains are pressurized pipelines that convey raw wastewater from a pump station to the treatment facility.
The project involves replacing 50-year-old water and sewer lines and modifying existing lift-station pipelines, according to manager Jennifer Fehrs of the public works department.
The replacement project includes construction of approximately 20,000 linear feet of pipelines between Manatee Avenue and Cortez Road.
Project limits extend from north of State Road 64/Manatee Avenue on State Road 789/Gulf Drive in Holmes Beach to State Road 684/Cortez Road West in Bradenton Beach.
The Force Main 5 project, divided into multiple phases, is scheduled to conclude in the summer of 2019.
The majority of construction activities are scheduled to take place between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. Monday through Friday.
Motorists should exercise caution as speed limits will be reduced and traffic patterns reconfigured in the work zones, according to Allen.
For more information, go to amipipereplacement.com.
What property owners need to know:
Residents in the project areas are urged to refrain from installing landscape or hardscape, as well as from making driveway modifications, until completion of the project — expected in January 2019.
Property owners also are asked to remove landscape and/or hardscape from the right of way abutting their property (from edge of pavement to 15 feet back) prior to commencement of activities in order to preserve or salvage those items. The contractor will remove driveway pavers/bricks to pallets and provide them to property owners.
Manatee County is required to restore disturbed areas in the rights of way with No. 57 Stone. Existing infrastructure encountered during construction will be removed and restored with stone, including driveways, landscaping and trees.
Questions related to driveway removal and restoration should be directed to Lynn Burnett, city engineer for Bradenton Beach and Holmes Beach, at 941-526-3375 or lburnett@cityofbradentonbeach.com.