Flamingo Crossings is a mixed-use development that lies just west of a major theme park in Orlando, Florida. The project combines lodging, retail and dining in a pedestrian-friendly environment. Once complete, the 45-acre master plan development will include 4,000 – 5,000 apartment units, more than 50 shopping and dining options, plus 1,700 parking spaces. The development will become a convenient shopping and service center for central Florida visitors and nearby residents. The project will be built in phases over the next 8 - 10 years.
Due to the vast scale of the project (759,000 cubic feet in stormwater storage), stormwater needed to be stored underground to allow the land savings necessary to develop the project on the scale required. KCG Engineering had developed an initial design for the system. Contech worked with KCG and the winning bidder, Phillips and Jordan, to complete the design to ensure it could fit within the challenging site constraints, be permitted, and fall within budget.
Contech was instrumental in solving several design challenges. These challenges included allowing extra cover over electrical conduits, avoidance of areas dedicated to high-pressure force mains, and accommodating for utility conflicts, tree islands, and light pole foundations.
A key component to Contech's corrugated metal pipe (CMP) solution was Contech's variable diameter design strategy. This strategy allows engineers to select from 120 different pipe sizes to maximize vertical storage space and minimize stone bedding and cover. Three different sizes of CMP were used on this project; 66-inch, 42-inch, and 28-inch. This design approach saved 19,484 cubic yards of stone compared to a plastic solution, resulting in 2,000 fewer truck deliveries of stone and over $500,000 in stone cost savings.
Given the size of the site, multiple basins were constructed on the east and west sides of the development. The east portion of the site included nine basins constructed from 16,986' of 66" diameter pipe. The west portion included twenty basins constructed from 20,863' of 28" diameter pipe and 36,590' of 42" diameter pipe.
Although the detention systems were installed early in the project, the buildings and parking lots are being built in phases. To eliminate the possibility of sediment entering the storage systems during construction, Contech designed temporary baffle walls into the system. These baffle walls will keep sediment-laden runoff from entering the system before site stabilization and were designed to be easily removed later to bring the system fully online upon project completion.
Given the size of the project, managing logistics was essential in enabling the contractor to meet their production goals and ensure the project came in on budget. For this project, Contech's MOBILE PIPE® mill was used to produce the 66-inch pipe on site. This reduced transportation costs, the number of trucks entering and leaving the busy site, and staging issues. It also allowed Contech to produce longer pipe lengths (50' vs. the traditional 40'), allowing the contractor to reach their installation goal of 2,700 feet of pipe per day.