(Okoboji)– Progress continues on a project to relocate a sanitary sewer lift station at Hayward’s Bay, along with installation of a new force main that will run through Brooks Golf Course and along a portion of the west side of Highway 71 in Okoboji. Steve Anderson, Superintendent of the Iowa Great Lakes Sanitary District tells KUOO news most of the work so far is in the Arrowwood Resort and Hayward’s Bay. But he says that’s about to expand…
“So you’re seeing a lot of construction going on out in front of Arrowwood Resort; there’s some stuff going on behind Liberty National Bank in Okoboji, at the Nature Center and up just to the south and west of Center Lake and that’s all part of one big sewer project that we’re moving the lift station off of Hayward’s Bay back out of the flood plain that’s original 1939 WPA lift station that we think has pretty much used, worked through its life and it’s time to look at replacing that, so that lift station is going to be replaced back on some DNR ground. That project is going forward. They poured some concrete yesterday and continue to work that. The work that you’re seeing up by Arrowwood and the golf course and the Nature Center is all part of the sewer force main that’s going to come off of that lift station.”
Anderson says the projects remain on a pretty tight schedule for completion…
“The lift station won’t be done until the fall of this year. The stuff that you see in front of Arrowwood, they’ll be going north until they get in front of the AmericInn and then get just past AmericInn and then they’ll go west and then they’ll head back north. That project is scheduled to be completed on May 1st of this year. And then the second project is the stuff that’s happening at the golf course and the Nature Center and that’s all under the golf course, it’s directional boring that’s being done with that force main, so they’re doing that and they’re going to do some directional boring on Lakeshore Drive as well, and that’s all supposed to be done by May 8th of this year.”
Anderson says the projects will also impact traffic on a couple of heavily traveled roads…
“I believe the contractor is looking at starting down on the Lakeshore Drive site and working its way back toward the Nature Center. So there will be limited traffic and possibly closed to local, closed to everybody but local traffic, but the Nature Center will stay open, just like what’s happening at Arrowwood and AmericInn. Those businesses are staying open. There’s required to have on entrance open to all those properties at any time and so Arrowwood is staying open, all of the shops, Minerva’s, all of that stayed open and AmericInn will be open so we’re working with those property owners making sure that we’re not impacting their business.”
Anderson says the traffic impacts will be felt within the next week or so.
He says the $2.2 million project will provide additional capacity to the Iowa Great Lakes Sanitary District as the area continues to grow.
