Wharton-Smith Breaks Ground on City of Sanford Seawall Project

Sanford, FL – October 25, 2018 marked a significant day for the City of Sanford with the groundbreaking ceremony for the $14 million RiverWalk Seawall, a project which will provide the necessary support for the future and final extension of Sanford’s award-winning RiverWalk from the Central Florida Regional Hospital to Interstate 4.

City of Sanford and Seminole County Representatives along with FDOT, MetroPlan Orlando and CPH Engineers joined in the ceremony to mark this momentous occasion. City of Sanford Mayor, Jeff Triplett, welcomed the crowd gathered at the spot where the project will begin stating, “This has been a long time coming – since 1995 when the original work began on the design for the trail.”

Words of excitement were also expressed by Chris Smith, Project Planner with the City of Sanford, noting that the project will be funded with Seminole County and City of Sanford sales tax, DOT and MetroPLan Orlando money, “It takes about $10 million per mile to build something like this. It is an engineering marvel with millions of tons of concrete. A lot of what you don’t see is underground and it takes a great specialized contractor to do this. We have one of the best contractors in Central Florida, and that is Wharton-Smith.”

Tim Smith, Executive Vice President of Wharton-Smith thanked everyone for their kind words, “It is a privilege to be a part of these three phases of the RiverWalk. Our employees are proud and we are looking forward to getting started!”

The Seawall project, designed by CPH Engineers, is an extension to the seawall along beautiful Lake Monroe’s south shore and is set to begin in December 2018. Once completed the City will begin Phase 3 of the RiverWalk which will extend the bike and pedestrian trail past the Central Florida Zoo and add roadway improvements. The final project will result in a nearly five-mile trail connecting Seminole and Volusia County and will encourage many job and economic opportunities for the City.

Photos from the event are located on our Flickr site here: https://flic.kr/s/aHsmuVDsZR