Transforming South Shore Drive

Project included updates to water, sewer and other underground infrastructure

In 2017, Holland Board of Public Works partnered with the City of Holland to update a section of South Shore Drive, from Old Orchard Road east to 17th Street. The project included widening the road, adding bike lanes, updating the pavement, improving critical HBPW infrastructure beneath the road, and updating the Azalea Avenue culvert.

HBPW coordinated efforts with the City of Holland through a series of meetings to ensure that throughout the project, residents in the area would be impacted as little as possible.

“By partnering with the City, both entities can better use our resources and complete work more efficiently and cost effectively than working separately, “ said Kevin Koning, superintendent of water/wastewater services. “With this project, we updated water, sewer and other underground infrastructure while the City widened the road, added bike lanes and updated the pavement.”

In the last few years, HBPW maintained infrastructure underneath South Shore Drive through regular maintenance, but the time had come for a long-term solution in that location to ensure reliable service for our customers.

As an organization that provides reliable service to customers, the South Shore Drive project quickly moved to the top of HBPW’s list of priorities.

“Reliability is crucial to us and our customers, so our goal is to replace old or damaged piping before they become an issue or negatively impact our customers,” said Koning.

“We try to find a project where it makes sense to do it all at once, to complete as much as possible while working together. Good planning means we can update worn infrastructure in a cost-effective manner that makes sense for HBPW, the city, and ultimately rate payers.”

– Kevin Koning, Superintendent of Water/Wastewater Services

Along with other aspects of the project, HBPW replaced 7,000 feet of water main from Old Orchard Road to Azalea Avenue and lined the sanitary sewer pipe instead of digging it up.

“We try to find a project where it makes sense to do it all at once, to complete as much as possible while working together,” Koning said. “Good planning means we can update worn infrastructure in a cost-effective manner that makes sense for HBPW, the city, and ultimately rate payers.”

The $6 million project was funded through the Capital Improvement Program and was executed as planned and completed in fall 2017.