ELKHART — The long awaited Benham lift station and force main project is scheduled to be completed in November, according to city officials.
The project began its first phase in March 2024. The second phase started in the spring. Public Works Director Tory Irwin said the construction crews will work until the asphalt plants close, which will be in November.
“Most of the underground work is finished,” Irwin said. “The roads are all not in yet, depending on where you’re at, we’ve still got some roads out. We’re not anticipating they are going to be put back until the end of the season.”
The section of Benham Avenue that stretches from Park Avenue to Indiana Avenue has been resurfaced and will be re-striped, Irwin said. The street paving, sidewalks and restoration will begin as soon as the underground work is done.
Engineering Project Manager Jason Simnick said he thinks the piping for the underground work will be completed by next week sometime. The lift station will probably be completed in late October, Simnick added. The cost of the entire project is $12.2 million.
“We are opening Harrison [Street] between 2nd and 3rd [streets] today,” Simnick said on Friday. “We don’t plan on closing it again after this. We’ve been opening and closing it because we need to do things for various activities that are happening downtown.”
There will still be a light at the intersection of Harrison Street and 3rd Street, but there will be a permanent stop sign at Harrison Street and 2nd Street, Simnick said. Some locations on 2nd Street will continue to have stop signs, while other locations will have lights, he added.
The new lift station will be installed at the Benham water tower property that will drain the neighborhoood’s rain directly to the St. Joseph River. The entire project will enhance the underpass and change traffic patterns north of the underpass on Benham.