TAMPA, Fla. — Construction is underway to replace a decades-old water main in Tampa.
Cicely’s Hair and Beauty Supply has been around for 47 years. Just down the street, the neighborhood is dealing with a major construction project.
“It does make us a little bit slower, but in the end, the result is going to end up being a lot better,” said Julianne Cirella, the Vice President of Retail at Cicely’s Hair and Beauty Supply.
If you go down W. Columbus Drive, you’ll like run into construction underway to replace an 80-year-old water main.
“We’re replacing approximately a mile of water main,” said Matt Hester, the project manager with Westra Construction.
“If you can get ahead of it, then that’s just exceptionally better than trying to be reactive and you’re working on the backside of it. That’s kind of a rule that we live by, is plan for something and get ahead of it as opposed to wait for it to break and then try and fix it,” he added.
The city said crews will work in block-by-block sections from N. Boulevard and N. Nebraska Avenue.
“Everything that we’re doing here is preventative,” said Hester. “It’s prevention as opposed to reaction.”
Westbound lanes of W. Columbus Drive will be temporarily impacted.
Once it’s finished, the city said the Water Department project will enhance water quality, improve water pressure, and reduce the number of water main breaks in the area.
“It’s an area that has a lot of business, so we don’t want to have breaks, so we try to keep the water main new all the time, so we don’t disrupt the community,” said Rynaldo Deshauteurs, a Water Department Design Engineer.
The current detour will be in effect until November 21. The city said construction on the entire project area on W. Columbus Drive between N. Nebraska Avenue and N. Boulevard is expected to be finished by April 2023.
Still, nearby businesses think the work is worth it to prevent problems in the future.
“If the water line busts, it could end up throwing us out and also everybody who lives in this neighborhood can be out of water, out of everything, so just preventing it is better than letting something bad happen,” said Cirella.
