City of Pigeon Forge, Wears Valley Sewer Replacement

Nestled in the famous Smoky Mountains of East Tennessee, the City of Pigeon Forge is a popular tourist destination year-round. With a daily population that can vary from 6,000 permanent residents to 50,000 residents and visitors, the demand on supporting utility systems fluctuates. Furthermore, as tourism continues to grow, the City frequently receives sewer availability requests for large new developments. The City of Pigeon Forge required some updates to its sewer system to continue to welcome visitors.  

In 2019, SSR conducted an engineering study on the existing Wears Valley Interceptor which supports the City of Pigeon Forge. Our analysis anticipated when the interceptor would reach its peak capacity. A holistic consideration of total sewer needs was necessary to meet expected demands. The City approved a new 24” sewer interceptor to provide increased sewer capacity for the Wears Valley Road corridor. 

In 2023, we provided the City with an updated Wastewater Master Plan which blended an understanding of the urgent need to improve the interceptor to provide the sewer capacity for the continued interest of developments with municipal budgetary constraints.  The solution was to take the two-phase interceptor improvement and break it into four phases of work. Phase 1A included approximately 3,700 LF of new sewer line at the bottommost section of the basin. 

The project required private property easements and permits from regulatory agencies. We worked with the City to design the new interceptor in close proximity to the existing sewer line, where possible, to limit the impact of permanent easements on private property. We prepared easement exhibits and shared them with the City early in the process to allow enough time for them to communicate with property owners and obtain permission to move forward with the new sewer installation. 

A lengthy portion of the new 24” interceptor was designed along an existing Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) transmission line and easement. Our team coordinated with TVA during the project to meet all regulatory requirements without negatively impacting critical TVA infrastructure. 

The proposed 24” interceptor needed to cross Wears Valley Road, a State Highway, but could not do so in the same location as the existing line, which is directly under the Waldens Creek bridge crossing. We coordinated with the Tennessee Department of Transportation to determine an acceptable crossing location, to the east of the Walden’s Creek bridge, and permitted a 42” casing pipe crossing that would be installed without impacting travel lanes during the project. A traditional jack and bore method was used to install the pipe crossing, which is a trenchless technique for installing equipment with minimal disruption to the entire route.  

Because of a 30+ year relationship with Pigeon Forge, SSR understood the critical infrastructure needs of the City and created a project that fit within the City’s budgetary framework.  Furthermore, when challenges were uncovered during design, SSR’s history with the client provided valuable experience and insight, which resulted in quick solutions keeping the project on schedule and within budget.