A new construction project to protect the Maumee River shuts down part of E. Wayne Street

FORT WAYNE, Ind. (Fort Wayne’s NBC) - A new construction project began Tuesday morning that city officials say will help protect the Maumee River.

Crews shut down a portion of E. Wayne Street between Glasgow Ave. and S. Anthony Blvd. and it’s expected to stay closed for 90 days.

“I don’t think they did a very good city plan on this,” Franke Plating Works owner Warren Franke said.

When Franke showed up to work Tuesday morning, he was greeted with orange barricades blocking part of the street.

“We move hundreds of thousands of pounds every week at our facility and it’s going to be really hard to make corners and turns, Franke said. “We never did receive a notice of any kind.”

Frank Suarez with Fort Wayne City Utilities says businesses in the area should’ve been informed of the project.

“We’ve worked closely with the businesses and we’ve been working with them for several months,” Suarez said.

Suarez says he understands this is an inconvenience now, but he says it should pay off in the long run. He says it’ll help prevent rivers from becoming polluted and sewers from overflowing.

“Just like at your sink at home, if you throw a big bucket of water in, it takes a long time for it to go down and it starts to fill up and that’s what happens when it rains. As these combined sewer pipes fill up, they overflow, and they have to overflow into the river.”

City leaders say this phase is part of an 18-year project to reduce the amount of combined sewage flowing into our rivers. Suarez says on average nearly 31 million gallons of combined sewage diverts to the Maumee River yearly near Anthony and Wayne. He says so far, it has helped cut down on pollution in other rivers.

As for Franke, he’s hopeful this will pay off long term. However, he expects frustration to build for the next three months.

“It’s not fair to everyone who work and deal with this area, but as I complain the city doesn’t care and they have this expansion to deal with, Franke said.

Suarez says a later phase on the project will involve work on Anthony and Wayne, but there’s no timetable yet.

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