Starting in March 2026, the City will be replacing the existing culvert located at SW 49th Street, between Natalie's Cove Road and SW 120th Avenue, as the current structure has reached the end of its useful life. This project is important to maintain proper drainage, roadway stability, and public safety in the surrounding areas.
During the approximate six months of construction, this section of SW 49th Street will be fully excavated, the metal culvert pipe will be replaced, and the roadway restored to its original condition.
Throughout the entirety of the project, SW 49th Street will not be accessible to vehicles or pedestrians between Natalie's Cove Road and SW 120th Avenue. As a result, residents who live on the west side of the project will need to use an alternate route, especially when commuting to and from Griffin Elementary School and Bill Lips Sports Complex.
Culverts are used frequently throughout South Florida. Essentially a large pipe or concrete tunnel, culverts are used when a roadway needs to cross over a canal and are critical to preserving the canals of South Florida.
This specific culvert located on SW 49th Street has been a part of Cooper City for decades and needs to be replaced as part of standard practice, according to Mike Wills, an engineer specializing in stormwater and hydraulics with The Corradino Group.
"It's been out there for quite a while. [Culverts] typically only are meant to last for a few decades. And the inspections that we've done on it indicate, you know, there's some corrosion, some rusting of the pipe, just from being out there in the water and the soil for so long," said Wills in our Keeping Coop in the Loop podcast. "And in addition, there's the roadway running over top of it. It's had decades of traffic going over the top of it and it's starting to stress out the pipe."
The canal that flows under SW 49th Street is a local canal that serves to collect discharge from nearby neighborhoods and city centers and direct it into larger canals controlled by the South Florida Water Management District - providing safe water management to the City of Cooper City.
"They have various structures, gates and facilities along it so that they monitor [water] levels during large storms and control the amount of water that's able to flow out of them into the ocean, controlling freshwater flows going into the ocean that could harm sea life, as well as making sure that those are open during severe events so that the entire area to the west is able to drain properly," said Wills.
According to Akin Ozaydin, Cooper City's Utilities Director and City Engineer, replacing the culvert will result in better drainage in the community - necessary when flooding occurs.
"Over the years, as you know, the pipe [has] corroded and this is one of those things that we are going to do a better design and the pipe material is...going to be better and it's going to drain better," said Ozaydin in our Keeping Coop in the Loop podcast. "So it's going to help our residents when it comes to flooding, but we are not changing any elevations or anything like that."
Please feel free to contact our Project Manager, Abel Palacio, at 954-434-4300 ext. 103 (APalacio@coopercity.gov) or CIP Manager, John Quintero, at 954-680-1451 (JQuintero@coopercity.gov) if you have any questions or would like to discuss the project in further detail.
Thank you for your attention and cooperation as we work to improve essential infrastructure while keeping the community informed and safe.