Students traveling north on Highland Road can continue to expect to hit a detour between East McKinley Street and East Polk Street as construction continues to repair drainage lines beneath the busy road.
“We are upsizing sewer lines to prevent sewage overflows in the street,” said Michael Ellis, program manager for CH2M Hill, the group contracted to oversee construction. “The city is under federal order to repair and upsize them to prevent [sanitary sewer overflows], which is when the manholes back up and rainwater mixes with sewage.”
The overall construction is a project of the Sanitary Sewer Overflows program, or SSO, and work began on the sanitary system below Highland Road at the end of November, forcing commuting University faculty and students to detour through the surrounding neighborhood.
The detour route currently follows Thomas H. Delpit Drive, which parallels Highland Road, between East Polk and East McKinley streets. The route was chosen by the Department of Public Works based on accessibility.
The road work should end within the month, according to Ellis.
“The campus is important to maintain access to,” Ellis said. “We do a lot of this work on Highland in between semesters to impact students as little as possible.”
Ellis said the team also does a lot of work at night to expedite the progress and minimize impact on the surrounding areas.
But some local business owners are still feeling the effects.
Charlie Tran, manager of University Seafood near the intersection of Highland Road and Garfield Street, said his business has seen fewer customers since the construction began.
“It just slowed down a little bit,” he said. “But we can’t do nothing about it, really.”
Ellis said he realizes the project is having an impact, but it’s not unlike any other construction.
“What we try to do is notify business owners the best we can and provide access the best we can,” he said.
Ellis said the southbound lane has been opened to traffic, and the entire road will open to traffic after asphalt is laid.
The drainage repair on Highland Road is one of 85 projects by SSO slated to fix Baton Rouge’s crumbling sewer system, which averages about 10 million feet of piping, Ellis said.
The SSO program is an initiative of the Baton Rouge City-Parish Department of Public Works, and construction began last year. Maintenance to the system is required under a court-approved decree with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
 
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Contact Sydni Dunn at [email protected]