The Shoal Creek Improvement Project is part of Dekalb County’s $2.4 billion capital improvement plan to improve its water and wastewater infrastructure and provide, once complete, the capacity to accommodate future growth and enhance the environmental resilience of the county’s infrastructure. Work is expected to run from 2025 through 2028.
This project begins at the Snapfinger Creek Advanced Wastewater Treatment Facility in southern Dekalb County and extends north through unincorporated DeKalb County and into the incorporated areas of Decatur and Avondale Estates. The primary components include:
- Replacing and/or upgrading approximately 13 miles of gravity sewer ranging in diameters from 12 to 72 inches
- Crossing underneath Interstate 20 and Interstate 285 connection of numerous existing residents and businesses
and - Removing aged infrastructure from adjacent stream banks.
Construction work is currently slated to begin sometime in 2026, and will impact Midway Woods residents, especially those whose properties border Shoal Creek, at some point during the project.
We recently reached out to Dekalb County for some clarification and further details on the intended work, and are reproducing the information we received from the county here, knowing that this will be of interest to many Midway Woods residents.
Two branches of Shoal Creek run through our neighborhood, slated to be part of Section 3 of the Shoal Creek Improvement Project (see map below). Construction work as part of this project will likely impact the entire neighborhood, with the actual sewer line work (and resulting potential tree removal, land disturbance etc) will impact a number of houses/properties directly.
Aside from the information that is provided in the FAQ answers posted to Shoal Creek Improvement Project website, I have some additional questions that I am looking to gather information on to share out with the members of our neighborhood.
Alia C Johnson, Engineering Manager with the Dekalb County of Watershed Management responded to our inquiries with the following information.
Q: Has there been any update on the project timeline or details since the public information open houses were held in November of 2023?
A: Section 3 of Shoal Creek project will most likely start in 2026. More details timeline will be provided when the contractor is selected which should be around 4th quarter of 2025 or 1st quarter of 2026.
Q: Do you have more specifics on when the work might be slated to begin within the confines of the Midway Wood neighborhood? Should we expect construction for the entire time period of roughly 2025 through 2028?
A: Please refer to the response from the first bullet on the project timeline. However, the construction duration for each neighborhood should be somewhere in between 3-9 months depended on the size and complexity. 2025-2028 timeframe is referring to the entire 12.5 miles of Shoal Creek project.
Q: Do you have more specifics on impacts to those households and properties through which Shoal Creek runs?
A: Construction corridors occur through a 40’ wide corridor along the pipe replacement. Existing 15” pipe will be upsized to 24” pipe along east Shoal Creek Tributary through Midway Woods neighborhood, and existing 24” pipe will be upsized to 30-36” pipe along Shoal Creek through the Midway Woods neighborhood.
Proposed sewer pipe will be offset from existing sewer pipe in areas of which the existing pipe is encroaching on Shoal Creek. The offset will promote and protect the longevity of the new upsized sewer line. Any disturbed area resulting from the construction will be restored to pre-construction conditions.
Q: Have you identified specific areas where the creek will be accessed by construction vehicles?
A: Construction access will occur through right of way of road crossings in order to work within the construction corridor. DWM will negotiate on a case by case basis with private property owners if additional access is needed. The contractor will work within the established temporary construction easement that will facilitate access to the pipeline construction and will be maintained outside of the 25’ stream buffer such to reduce any impacts to Shoal Creek.
Q: Have you identified trees that will need to be removed?
A: Yes, each tree within the construction corridor has been surveyed and assessed by the arborist. The list of trees to be impacted on the project within the Midway Woods neighborhood are identified on the tree removal/replacement plan.
Q: Can you provide specifics (width, etc.) for the amount of access easement that will be required? Will it be a 10-foot wide corridor? 20-foot? More? Less? To-be-determined? Varied dependent on specific factors?
A: Construction corridor occur through a 40’ wide corridor along the pipe replacement. 20’ of the 40’ corridor will only be used during construction (temporary), the remainder 20’ centerline of the pipeline of the 40’ corridor will be permanent easement utilized by DWM for the lifetime of the pipeline in order to maintain the new sewer line as required. The easement acquisition and negotiation with the private property owners will be done prior to the construction.
Q: Can those neighbors with the concrete sewer cover access points (manholes) on their property expect anything different in terms of work to be done, access needed, etc. from those neighbors whose yards may border the creek but who do not have sewer manholes on them?
A: If the property has sewer manhole, they may be required for access points. Some of the construction will be offset from the existing alignment. In that case, the new sewer manholes will be constructed, and the existing one will be abandoned.
Q: What will you be needing from the neighborhood residents to help facilitate this work or assist in these efforts?
A: DWM will begin the easement negotiation process with each impacted property by our easement acquisition agent next year. We are requesting the private property owners to review the easement document that will be presented at the time and response accordingly. This process will occur before the construction begin. During construction, the neighborhood can help facilitate the contractor by follow the traffic route direction. We appreciate your patience during the construction period.
Q: Any specifics you can provide along these lines would be helpful — we would like to share out more information, via our neighborhood website, Facebook group, email list etc. to let neighbors know what to expect and when. I hope that the more information we can provide and the longer in advance we can let our neighborhood know what to expect from this project, the less anxiety this work may cause for our residents. Right now, we know it is coming, it could take a long time, and could result in a loss of trees, damage to property and other general disruption.
A: I have attached the Midway Woods neighborhood design drawing (subject to change). See image and download PDF below. Before the construction begin, DWM will hold a formal community meeting to discuss in more details of the project with impacted residents.
Q: Would it be possible to arrange a meeting/Zoom call with representatives of the improvement project and neighborhood residents so questions can be asked directly? Or could we arrange a conversation with a handful of neighborhood representatives and representation from the project to answer some of these questions. I’d like to facilitate a line of communication between our neighborhood and project representatives so we can keep our neighborhood informed and up to date as this work commences and have a conduit to answer questions/addresses concerns prior to and during the construction phase of this project.
A: Definitely. I will have my team arrange a virtual meeting with your neighborhood representative. Since the construction will not happen for another year, we will have more definite answer on the timeline sometime next year. I suggest we plan for this meeting no later than 2nd quarter of 2025.
Look for details of this meeting regarding the improvement project sometime in early 2025. The Midway Woods Association is planing to reach back out the Department of Watershed Management shortly after the first of the year to start setting this meeting up.
Thanks to Alia Johnson for responding to our email with this information.
Important links:
Shoal Creek Trunk Sewer Improvement Project
Information on the Shoal Creek Improvement Project posted on the Friends of Dearborn Park website
Download the Shoal Creek Sewer Improvement Project maps