What is all the digging along Cherokee Farms Road?!?
If you’ve been in the neighborhood in the past week, you have probably noticed a trench being dug right along the edge of the asphalt all the way down Cherokee Farms Road, starting at the church. This is the last major piece of piping to go into the ground and it is the sewer forcemain. A forcemain is a pressurized pipe carrying pumped wastewater. This particular forcemain is being pumped from the pump station that was installed, which is where the trench will eventually end up if you continue to watch them dig. In an earlier post, the pump station wet well was described as the place where all the sewer pipes in the development phase empty into via gravity. As that wet well fills, the pump inside will discharge the wastewater into a 6” forcemain. It is pumped through that forcemain all the way just past the church where it will cross Cherokee Farms Road and connect into the 10” forcemain that carries it all the way to a regional pump station, which then will pump it to the treatment facility. The 10” forcemain that runs from Joe Frazier Road down Cherokee Farms Road was put in by Habersham when Habersham first started. It turns into the neighborhood behind the dentist office and slices through the neighborhood, unnoticed, all the way to the pump station that is right at the gate before you get to the pool. That pump station is where all the other Habersham pump stations pump into and then that pump station discharges into the 10” forcemain that exits the neighborhood. For phase 7, instead of pumping to another pump station, the forcemain for phase 7 will just pump right into the 10” forcemain. That connection hasn’t been made yet, but you’ll notice when it is being done because you will see them dig through Cherokee Farms Road to cross over right near the church.
Several telecommunication cables are running parallel right in the forcemain path the entire length, requiring constant maneuvering to not damage them and to get them out of the way.
Look at all the obstacles in the trench. Two (actually a third that can’t be seen) cables running parallel in the trench, two conduits crossing through the trench, a large handhold box for telecommunications that was found buried a foot under the dirt that no one knew about, and a storm drain pipe crossing through the trench. There is a water pipe as well that is not in view.
The work has been slow while installing the forcemain. It would typically be one of the easier pipes to lay because, since it is pressurized (like a water pipe), it can be the same relatively shallow depth the entire run of pipe. BJWSA requires it to be 4’ deep, so that is the depth of the trench that is being dug along the shoulder of the road. The problem is that there are many other utilities in this area as well. The crew is having to hand dig a lot to avoid cutting through fiber optic cables, copper cables, electrical cables and other cables that may or may not be active anymore. There are also several stormwater and water pipes that cross the road that the forcemain has to go under with an 18” clearance. You can see in the pictures above all the things visible in the trench that they are working around.
I’m sure there are folks out there watching the trench being dug and headed straight towards the majestic live oak across from Hamlet Row and worried about whether it will impact the tree. No worries! This has been designed around. The forcemain will veer into the property to go around the tree. In fact, we had to go through a design revision approval with BJWSA a few months ago when we staked out the path of the forcemain and realized we didn’t get it bumped over far enough to get out from under the edge of the canopy. We revised the path to push it out as far as we could from the tree to avoid having to cut underneath any part of the canopy.
What else has been happening over the past month and upcoming?
The last part of the sewer was completed. The last leg was the one going towards the gym and the church. The manhole at the end of the line can be seen at the edge of the church pavilion and you can see how shallow this one is compared to the others we’ve seen pictures of during the process.
The shallowest manhole in the project!
The end of the sewer line. Last manhole.
There has also been some dirt moving going on. You may have noticed what looks like a couple of pieces of streets being cut in and that is exactly what it is. Nathan Wilson, of J.R. Wilson, came out and wanted to get some cuts in with his bulldozer to see what the subgrade compaction was like. With all the many years of experience under his belt, he says he can get the best feel for the dirt by using his bulldozer. As roads get cut in, it will have to be determined whether the subgrade is compacted enough to use in place or if it will have to be stripped out and fill dirt brought in or a dirt/cement mix. The compaction test is usually done via a Proof Roll, which involves a fully loaded dump truck driving back and forth on the prepared grade. We may get into that more on a future post as streets start.
The County has a 2026 aerial up on their GIS site now. You can see where all the dirt moving has been happening and where things are in relation to the master plan.
Drone shot of the site from last week, looking west from the gym building. We’ll try to get some more drone shots soon.
We’re also trying to prepare the site for the dry utilities to come in. This is power, telecommunications and gas. They bring their own contractor in to run all of those lines and require their path to be at finished grade and clear. We’ve got a little ways to go to be ready for them, but we are trying to get them in here in the next couple of weeks, as it will take them 2-3 months to fully get everything run and fired up with power. Stay tuned on that!
The images above are just some examples of things that we’re working to clean up so the dry utilities have a clear path. Dirt mounds, ditches, etc. all have to be taken care of.
And a few snow pictures from a few weeks ago!
