Students and parents who drive to school were met with a familiar friend recently—once again Lockwood Boulevard was blocked off near the Carillon subdivision.
At the start of last school year, a northbound section of Lockwood Blvd. was closed off due to an issue with a gravity sanitary sewer that was located 30 feet beneath the ground. Those commuting to school would have to merge over to the left side of the road which was split into two lanes, one going north and the other going south. The initial repairs were finished in late September of 2023 and cost $1.5 million from the water and sewer fund.
While the road was expected to be open for the foreseeable future, after the conclusion of past repairs, a leak was discovered in a manhole on the road. Typically 48 inches in diameter, manholes are made out of precast concrete sections, access systems and provide access to the sewer system.
“Somehow a leak developed down at the bottom of the manhole. I’m not sure exactly how, but there’s different ways to repair manholes… you can put a lining system in or you can use grout,” Dennis Westrick, a senior engineer for the Seminole County Environmental Services Department said.
The county continued its use of independent contractors, paid for by an emergency purchase order for the repairs. No in-house staff was used for the project.
“We don’t do a competitive bid if it’s an emergency project, we get the quote from the contractor, put the paperwork together, and once they review it and approve it, the purchase order gets issued and away we go,” Westrick said.
If the leak was not fixed, it could have resulted in the depression in the roadway getting worse, meaning a bumpier ride for drivers, as well as the size of the leak possibly growing. The gravity sewer system is 35 years old and they are usually effective for 50 years if properly installed.
The county has received complaints from residents who are annoyed at what seems like constant work being done on Lockwood.
“We get complaints all the time—people don’t like change. When you take a four-lane road and close it down to one lane in each direction you use what’s called a maintenance of traffic plan (MOT),” Westrick said.
These MOTs are developed by the Florida Department of Transportation and have generally been adopted by most cities and counties.
It seems that after over a year of issues, Lockwood Boulevard will be fully open for those driving to school or just making an everyday commute.
“I’ve been assured that everything is done, the roadways done, we’ve been blessed by the public works division who’s in charge of the street,” Westrick said.
Students are happy about the underground repairs coming to an end after months of confusion when driving on the road.
“I never knew what was going on with the road, it was always blocked off and I would see them digging stuff up. It’s good they finished it, it was annoying to drive through,” senior Jomary Santana said.
