FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WOWO): A Fort Wayne sewer project designed to keep sewage overflows out of the Summit City’s waterways has moved to a new phase.

Superior Street is now closed between Clinton and Barr Streets, starting today, as crews build a 48-inch consolidation sewer in work that will last through mid-summer.

A consolidation sewer is a near-surface sewer that collects or consolidates the flow from existing sewer pipes. Currently, the combined sewage in a large area of the city’s central business district, from Baker Street to Superior, discharges 4.88 million gallons per year into the St. Marys River.

Combined sewage overflows end up in the river an average of 71 times per year.

The Superior Street project, combined with other work including the city’s Deep Rock Tunnel, should reduce the overflows by more than 90 percent.