Durkees Run Interceptor & 
Earl Avenue Reconstruction

Summary:

The goals of the Durkees Run Interceptor & Earl Avenue Reconstruction Project was diverting stormwater from being directed to the Lafayette Wastewater Treatment Plant, improving area-wide drainage conditions, reducing street flooding in the Earl Avenue area and east of 18^th Street near Lafayette Jefferson High School, and upgrading roadway corridors in the area. The project objectives were met by separating existing combined stormwater and sanitary sewer lines. This separation alleviated capacity problems in existing sanitary sewer further downstream and reduced raw sewage overflows into Durkees Run. After completion, over 100 million gallons of stormwater annually are diverted from the Lafayette Wastewater Treatment Plant while preventing untreated sewage from flowing into the Wabash River.

The project was completed under the Indiana Guaranteed Savings Contract statute, which allowed for it to be split into multiple phases. During summer months when Purdue University traffic is reduced, Phase I was initiated to quickly address the failure of an existing sewer along South Street. Phase 2A was the construction of a Stormwater Park, which included multi-functional stormwater management, education, and passive recreation, just north of Jefferson High School. Outfall ponds were installed west of 18^th Street to help manage the drainage. Phases 2B and 2C of the project included storm sewer installation as large as nine feet in diameter, road reconstruction and trail construction along Earl Avenue to tie the improvements made in Phase 1 to the improvements made in Phase 2A.