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Miami Beach officials declare emergency, accelerate repairs after repeated force‑main breaks on Dade Boulevard
Summary
City staff told the Land Use and Sustainability Committee they have declared an emergency for a failing force main on Dade Boulevard, contracted a design‑build team, plan trenchless replacement starting as soon as spring and will return in May with an accelerated five‑year plan and cost options.
Miami Beach officials told the Land Use and Sustainability Committee on Feb. 11 that repeated breaks in pressurized sewer lines have forced the city to declare an emergency and speed replacement of a force main on Dade Boulevard.
City engineering staff said the Dade Boulevard run has had six breaks in the past year and the most recent failure occurred about two weeks before the meeting. Mariana Evora, assistant director for infrastructure, described an emergency procurement of a design‑build team and expedited material purchases to replace roughly 3,600 linear feet of force main using horizontal directional drilling to avoid open‑cut work through the roadway. Staff said construction could begin as early as May 2022 and be finished no later than the first quarter of 2023.
Why it matters: the force main failures have been disruptive to residents, are an environmental concern and have exposed the city to regulatory deadlines. Committee members asked staff to return with an updated five‑year rolling plan and a separate accelerated plan showing tradeoffs and cost differences.
City engineer Christina Ortega and Evora gave the committee a broader update on the water and sewer five‑year critical needs plan adopted after the 2019 master plans. Staff said about 20 projects valued at roughly $43 million in construction have been completed since the plan began and that the city has awarded about $5 million in design fees tied to roughly $50 million of estimated construction work.
Staff also described several related efforts: automated metering infrastructure with roughly 350 smart meters already tested and integrated with billing and a mass deployment planned to begin in March 2022 at an estimated pace of 1,000 meters per month until mid‑2023; and a January contracting round with three Florida‑based firms for trenchless rehabilitation of gravity sewer collection system pipes, manholes and structures meant to minimize excavation and traffic impacts.
Funding and grants: staff told the committee they have an intent to award $22 million in grant funding — about $14 million earmarked for hardening pump stations and about $7.6 million for citywide gravity sewer main replacement/rehabilitation — and are pursuing additional state and federal grants and monitoring infrastructure bill opportunities. The department said they will include the Dade Boulevard emergency needs in the city’s upcoming budget request and that the new grant awards change some priorities within the five‑year list.
Next steps: the committee asked staff to present a rolling five‑year chart (2022–2027) that includes a new “funded” column and a high‑level estimate of total funding needed. Staff agreed to return in May with a base plan and a faster, higher‑cost acceleration option showing the cost differences.
