The roadside construction that has slowed traffic this summer on the Pullman-Moscow Highway is part of a city sewer installation project with an estimated cost of $2.2 million.

Crews have worked since May digging trenches that will hold new sewer lines along Highway 270 and Airport Road. These additions will be used for existing buildings in the area and facilitate further development near the southeast corner of the WSU campus.

“They’re all built for taking on future expansion or development both at WSU and in the corridor to the airport,” said Kevin Gardes, the director Pullman’s public works department. “It’s all designed for the future, and future capacity.”

Because WSU expects to benefit from the project, the university contributed $600,000. Whitman County contributed $51,000, and city reserve funds are being used for the remainder of the cost.

“WSU was looking at doing an upgrade (of its sanitary sewer collection system) which would have cost a substantial amount of money, so this is a kind of win-win partnership,” Gardes said. “It’s a good project; it’s good for the city, so it’s good for WSU.”

Gardes said the project won’t affect usage rates for Pullman’s sewer system, which were set by City Council.

The project has utilized two separate digging crews: one that began along the highway at the intersection of Bishop Boulevard, and another that began along Airport Road from the intersection of Terre View Drive.

Project Manager Clayton Forsmann said the crews have faced a variety of problems that have slowed their progress, namely tedious rock excavation and having to avoid a gas line.

The initial goal was to complete the project by mid-September, but Forsmann said a date in mid-October is now more realistic.

The sewer project is only one piece of a plan for long-term development. Forsmann said future urban development projects will likely extend toward the airport on the west edge of Pullman.

“It’s the first phase of the project, and the idea is to continue to install utilities,” he said.

Gardes added that sewage is not the only utility needed in the area.

“This project is providing the backbone for sewer utility in that area,” Gardes said. “We still need to get water out there, so this is just one of two main city utilities that would be needed for future development.”

Reporting by Andrew Braddock