Last week marked the unofficial groundbreaking of Big Branch 1 PS — a new regional wastewater pump station that’s going to handle all the flow from the massive Veridea development in Apex, NC.

This is no small job. Veridea is a 1,200-acre, multi-phase project with 8,000 homes, millions of square feet of commercial and civic space, and miles of open trails. Every bit of sewer from that site is coming to BB1.

Right now, we’re blasting rock — a lot of it. The wet well alone goes down 35 to 40 feet, and through some serious partially weathered rock. Traditional excavation was not going to be feasible here, so our friends at East Coast Drilling & Blasting are handling three major blasts to get us to subgrade. After that, we move into shoring followed by CIP concrete foundations and structure work.

It’s a big job with a lot of moving parts — concrete, masonry, roofing, framing and beyond — the whole nine yards.

Stay tuned for more updates from the field.