A two-year sewer project starts Monday near UK. Here’s what you need to know.
A two-year sewer pipe replacement project from Oliver Lewis Way to High Street will begin Monday and will result in partial or complete road closures around the University of Kentucky campus for the next two years, Lexington city officials said last week.
Boring on Winslow Avenue, which has been restricted to one lane since late January, will begin Monday. It’s anticipated that Winslow, a short but well-traveled connector street between South Limestone and South Upper streets, will be restricted to one lane for at least three months.
It’s just the beginning of a host of closures and other disruptions in that area. The $10.9 million project to replace the 1934 sewer line is just one of the $590 million in sewer upgrades the city must fix as part of a settlement with the Environmental Protection Agency.
City officials have tried to design and re-route the sewer line replacement in a way that is least disruptive to traffic, pedestrians, businesses and UK.
“Construction in urban areas is always hard and for an area as densely populates as the streets around campus, options are very limited,” said Charlie Martin, the director of the Division of Water Quality who is overseeing the projects needed to comply with the EPA consent decree. “We believe that what we’re about to do is the least disruptive, visible option.”
While crews start work on Winslow, a second crew began last week on a section of sewer pipe on Patterson Street to South Broadway. That construction will have limited impacts on Chair Avenue and Emmaline Lane.
The weekend of March 14 and 15 a new manhole will be installed on South Upper Street in addition to 40 feet of pipe. That means Upper will be closed at Winslow and Winslow will be closed from Jersey to Upper starting at 7 p.m. March 13. It won’t reopen until 6 a.m. March 16.
If the project is not completed over the weekend, construction will have to continue at that intersection at night, Martin said.
Crews will bore under South Broadway sometime this spring. South Broadway will remain open. During the summer and fall of 2020, the project will move along Bolivar to Upper Street and then connect to the pipes laid on Winslow Avenue.
Over the summer, the project will move along Avenue of Champions. The city hopes that section will be completed by the end of 2020. Then the sewer line replacement will move up Euclid and will likely reach the intersection of Euclid and High streets by early 2022.
The current sewer pipe runs under or near several UK buildings including the UK’S Singletary Center. The new sewer pipe will be in the street, making it easier for crews to access. The replacement of the old, leaky pipe will mean cleaner water. That area of campus has also seen a dramatic increase in construction. It needs more sewer capacity.
“Over the next two years we’ll need to keep reminding ourselves that this project is a short-term problem that provides a tremendous long-term community benefit,” Martin said.
