Mills Avenue between South Street and Anderson Street will close Wednesday and is anticipated to remain closed for three months.
The street will be closed in both directions in order to install what city officials call a crucial part of the sewer system beneath the road.
Construction workers will install a sewer line that will transfer sewage to Lift Station One, which is being constructed nearby. The new lift station will be an upgrade to a 50-year old well and enable it to pump more efficiently. The newer pump is designed to meet the needs of the anticipated growth of downtown Orlando.
Orlando’s Wastewater Division Manager David Bass said residents will experience an increase in noise.
“We will be monitoring the noise and the vibrations from the sheet piling but we don’t anticipate it to be too much and it will also be during the day, so residents won’t be bothered at night.”
Lift stations are pumps that lift waste to be processed at higher elevations.
Bass said there are about 240 lift stations in Orlando and there are usually three or four of these types of projects going on at once.
“This is a major one, one of the biggest ones we have, so people just need to understand that this is part of living in the big city.”
Detours will be marked with obvious signage and should not add more than a few minutes to either the northbound or southbound commute. Pedestrian traffic will also see detours. There is a possibility the project may be extended in case of bad weather.
The scheduled completion date for the overall project is August 2020.