The orange barrels and “road closed” signs on Lotus Avenue near Ariana Street mark the start of the biggest project Lakeland’s Water Utilities department has undertaken.
Over the next 20 months, it will replace one of the largest networks carrying its sewage — the 2.6-mile Western Trunk Line, which runs under several neighborhoods and more than a quarter mile of Harden Boulevard.
The project will cost an estimated $77.7 million, more than quadruple the $17.8 million Lakeland spent to build the Northeast Water Treatment Facility on Old Combee Road in 2003…