What lies beneath – Under every major roadway project looms a complex maze of infrastructure challenges

Fresh from a Colts Super Bowl victory, Indianapolis is reveling in its status as a sports city to be reckoned with. While Peyton Manning and his legendary arm recently brought renown to the state capital, somewhere around the turn of the previous century, another superstar put this Midwestern city in the spotlight – but for a much different reason.

Engineer Charles Hurd – “the father of modern Indianapolis sewerage” – built a wastewater treatment plant that was so advanced, so progressive, that it was praised in the US and abroad as an engineering sensation. Built in 1925 and now known as the Belmont Advanced Wastewater Treatment Plant, it was the largest facility of its kind in the world, drawing leading sanitary engineers of the time to Indianapolis to admire its splendor.

A city founded on the White River, Indianapolis has recognized the value of proper water engineering since Mr. Hurd’s revolutionary treatment plant. And, with 3,000 miles of sanitary sewer lines coursing beneath the city’s surface, Indianapolis understands the importance of working with a wastewater leader – like CTE – to cost-effectively maintain this essential infrastructure.

As the Indiana Department of Transportation (INDOT) embarks on the massive Accelerate 465 project, reconstructing an 11-mile corridor of Interstate 465 from I-70 to 56th Street, CTE is providing this long-term client with strategic utility coordination services.

“While reviewing the INDOT plans for the City of Indianapolis on this project, we identified a long stretch of sewer that would have been in direct conflict with a proposed noise wall,” says CTE Project Manager Todd Frauhiger. “The cost to relocate this sewer would have reached into the millions, and moving it would inconveniently impact an entire retirement community. A total redesign of the sewer system would have been required, and the construction in the community immense.”

By identifying the potential conflict and suggesting preemptive design changes, CTE quickly – and effectively – resolved the problem before it became a problem. This solution, literally, saved taxpayers millions of dollars.

“To provide utility coordination, planning, design, inspection, and permitting between the City of Indianapolis and INDOT, we needed a professional consulting firm with specialized utility experience. The team from CTE spelled out their particular experience and, frankly, blew the other prospective firms away. CTE said, ‘We can handle all of your needs.’ And, they were right. They’re providing excellent service as our utility coordinator.”

Bob Harris
Senior Project Manager
City of Indianapolis,  Department of Public Works

Unidentified, unresolved utility conflicts are one of the largest potential costs on any highway project, with long delays and liquidated damages just part of the fall-out.

“When you see a road construction project underway, you probably think about detours and traffic congestion – not sewers and underground utilities,” Frauhiger says. “But underground utilities are a very big issue that can turn into very big problems. Just consider the consequences of not resolving possible conflicts with utility systems before they become a reality.”

With more than 35 years’ experience working with INDOT on utility relocation and coordination projects, CTE is certainly qualified to tackle this job. But, CTE does not rest on its laurels. With each new assignment, CTE sees an opportunity to develop innovations and apply fresh strategies to keep moving the field forward – and, perhaps, like Charles Hurd, to create the “next big thing” in water engineering.