October 2021
Big Creek WRF Expansion: One Year of Construction in Review
ROSWELL, GA – The expansion of the Big Creek Water Reclamation Facility recently reached its one-year construction anniversary. The design-build team of Archer Western and Brown and Caldwell has reached multiple key milestones in its first of a four-year timeline. The project progress remains on schedule and is more than a quarter of the way complete.
The project’s two tower cranes, one 120 feet tall and the other 160 feet, are providing coverage to 80 percent of the site. An 800-foot sound wall has already been built to minimize noise throughout the construction process as well as once the plant is operational.
Milestones also include the installation of 85 percent of the project’s concrete piles; 1,600 have been placed, combining for a total depth of 40,000 feet of concrete. Through the first year, 2,700 trucks have placed 26,900 cubic yards of concrete, a number just below 60% of the project’s total.
Over 263,000 manhours have been worked so far on the project with zero safety incidents that result in zero lost time. Over 90% of the materials for the facility have already been procured or are in the process of being delivered to the site. This has helped to mitigate any stress from ongoing supply chain issues. 200,000 cubic yards of onsite rock has been cleared to prepare the site, minimizing the need to import soil and avoiding delays in construction time.
The Big Creek Water Reclamation Facility, owned by Fulton County, serves the largest service area and receives the largest amount of wastewater flow of all the reclamation facilities in the county’s northern service area, outside of Atlanta. The Progressive Design-Build project will upgrade and expand the facility from 24 to 32 million gallons per day to meet the projected wastewater treatment demands from future growth and eliminate odors from the facility. The project is expected to be Fulton County’s largest public works project in the next 50 years.
Phase 2B of the project heads into its second year with anticipated completion of large milestones by the end of this year and into the first half of 2022.
