ST. CLAIR SHORES, MICH. (WXYZ) — This Monday, a major sewer construction project begins in St. Clair Shores. The $25 million project was supposed to start this week, but according to officials, the cold weather caused a delay.
The installation of an additional sewer pipe will be done in nine phases, starting at 9 Mile and Jefferson.
“I’m hoping it’s not a huge impact," Joe VanderMarliere said.
He owns Baffin Brewing Company near 10 Mile on Jefferson, and he's bracing for next year. That's when the sewer construction project is expected to have made its way to the front of his business.
VanderMarliere said, “I really think it’s gonna be good, how they’re separating it out in stages cause it gives, obviously, it gives them learning opportunity to change the plan and adjust things if there’s significant impact down at 9 (mile) and Stephens.”
St. Clair Shores Mayor Kip Walby said it's a 2-year project on the Nautical Mile. He's also the Operations Director for the Southeast Macomb Sanitary District, which is undertaking the project.
Walby said the additional sewer pipe being installed will greatly reduce the amount of sewage discharging into Lake St. Clair.
“What we’re doing here is putting in that 60-inch sewer so that we relieve that bottleneck and have, what we believe will be 50 percent or more, less CSOS, combined sewer overflows, into Lake St. Clair," he explained.
As he explained, from 9 Mile to Stephens, traffic will go down to two lanes in both directions. When the project reaches 10 Mile in April of 2026, traffic will be reduced to one lane down to Rio Vista Street.
That's a concern for some residents and businesses.
Walby said, “You can see, it’s significant to put this pipe in here and reduce those flows, but we all know construction causes problems. Right? So, we’re gonna have issues. We realize that they’ll be less, less lanes.”
“We’ve had a town hall. We’ve met with the businesses a number of times. We... try to work with their concerns," he explained.
VanderMarliere said, “We’re just hoping for the best, try to make as much money as we can this year in preparation for next year. I think we’re gonna stick to the same hours, things like that. But we also might cut back our hours depending on how the impact is.”
The project is expected to be completed in March 2027.
