Broward County residents, businesses and visitors all rely upon dependable and high quality public infrastructure, including the facilities, systems and processes that support drinking water and sewage systems, waste disposal, roadways and traffic systems. Important aspects of public infrastructure are sustainability and resiliency. The new LEED-certified Broward County Courthouse is a new addition to the downtown skyline that is well on its way to completion and will soon be one of the largest courthouse facilities in the nation. The $315 million Courthouse complex project has stimulated business locally and nationally and generated approximately 2,400 jobs. It includes 714,000-square-feet of new office space featuring 77 courtrooms with additional space for expansion, an improved flow for visitors and employees and enhanced security screening areas. A new 1,000 space Judicial Complex South Parking Garage opened in June.
In a unique partnership with Chevron Energy Solutions, Broward County broke ground on a state-of-the-art, biogas-to-energy facility in Pompano Beach that will turn waste such as restaurant fats, oil and grease into reliable, renewable energy to power Water and Wastewater Services operations. The innovative project will generate enough energy annually to power the equivalent of 800 homes, offset the costs of purchased electricity and help achieve reductions in carbon countywide. An educational nature path will feature drought-tolerant plants and a boardwalk made of recycled materials. The project has received the Broward County Seal of Sustainability for environmental stewardship.
The $700 million Neighborhood Improvement Program, managed by Water and Wastewater Services, has made a difference in the lives of 92,500 residents, in 28,555 homes, in a 9,355 acre area of the Broward Municipal Services District (previously known as Broward’s Unincorporated Area). Improvements include 295 miles of roadways, 428 miles of sidewalk and 6,223 miles of new pipeline. A project to construct two new deep injection wells to enhance treated effluent disposal capacity at the North Regional Wastewater Treatment Plant has begun.
In conjunction with school district officials, local school administrators, city staff and law enforcement, Traffic Engineering staff identified traffic control measures, design modifications, and enforcement and educational strategies to make school zones safer for pedestrians and bicyclists. More than 50 schools have been evaluated with most receiving some type of new traffic control measures.
All major phases of the Green Lights traffic synchronization program have been completed. The program was launched in 2010 to re-time and improve signal coordination on the County’s major roadway corridors; 1,050 intersections along 55 roadway corridors have been retimed, reducing greenhouses gas emissions by over 660,000 metric tons and saving approximately $31 million annually in fuel costs.
Broward County is participating in the national Complete Streets initiative and worked with City of Fort Lauderdale to implement a series of improvements along Bailey Road, Palm Avenue and Lyons Road. The League of American Bicyclists awarded Broward County the Bicycle Friendly Community Bronze Award level in recognition of the County’s decades-long commitment to being a bicycle friendly community.Highway Construction and Engineering received a $500,000 grant from the FDOT/County Incentive Grant Program for the design of roadway widening of a one mile segment with Complete Streets elements including designated bicycle lanes, sidewalks, drainage, lighting, signalization, landscaping and irrigation improvements.
Solid Waste and Recycling began a new initiative to increase recycling at commercial establishments, and worked with 14 major retailers to determine their potential for additional recycling. |
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