Atlanta DWM Wins Construction Excellence Award

From the City of Atlanta

Successful completion of a storage vault in the shadows of Turner Field earned the City of Atlanta Department of Watershed Management (DWM) recognition for construction excellence by the South Atlantic Chapter of the Construction Management Association of America (CMAA-SAC) last week.

DWM received first-place honors in the category of New Public Building Construction Under $50 million at the organization’s annual awards banquet.  The ceremony was held at the Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre and celebrated outstanding achievement in construction management.

Construction of the five-million gallon vault underneath Turner Field’s media parking lot began on Nov. 1, 2013. The project represented a fast-track design-build with a five-month schedule to coincide with the Atlanta Braves offseason. The $19 million project reached substantial completion on Feb. 28.  

“Construction of the media lot vault is a remarkable achievement in engineering and construction which will provide much needed flood relief to residents in the surrounding neighborhoods,” says Commissioner Jo Ann Macrina. “We were able to complete construction within a very tight timeframe utilizing a design which incorporated sustainability - a key initiative of Mayor Kasim Reed - to relieve flooding.”

The media lot storage vault project is part of the Southeast Atlanta Green Infrastructure Initiative and was designed to reduce flooding in Peoplestown and surrounding communities. In July 2012, Peoplestown experienced several days of heavy rainfall which temporarily displaced families and impacted quality of life. DWM took immediate steps to remedy the issue and identified the need for an underground vault to increase the storage capacity of the existing combined sewer system and alleviate flooding. 

This vault is one of many projects planned throughout the basin. Watershed Management has already constructed eight short-term, emergency green projects in the Peoplestown, Mechanicsville and Grant Park neighborhoods to relieve flooding including rain gardens, vegetative bioswales and detention ponds. DWM will begin the installation of permeable pavers to further reduce overflows in the affected neighborhoods later this year.