SCHERERVILLE | Crews have started clearing land, making way for a sewer project expected to increase capacity and relieve backups and flooding in town.

The major work will begin after Independence Day, Town Manager Bob Volkmann said.

"It's great," he said. "It's a long time coming."

The project was designed and engineered more than five years ago, but it took time to acquire the needed easements and rights of way.

The project involves replacing existing pipes with larger pipes. The new pipes start at 42 inches in diameter and taper down to about 24 inches, he said.

The existing pipes are as small as 10 inches at parts of the sewer line, which begins at the town's wastewater treatment plant and runs south to Colfax, just short of 101st Street.

The first phase should be done by June 2009. The town still is working to acquire some property for the second phase, but it should be obtained by the time the first phase ends, Volkmann said.

The project eliminates a 30-year-old lift station in Schererville Heights, one of the unincorporated neighborhoods that Schererville serves with water and sewer. Some houses in that part of town flood or get sewage backups in their basement when it rains heavily.

There's no guarantee the sewer project will eliminate those problems, but it will intercept the flow and should alleviate the overcapacity issues, Volkmann said.

"It'll have so much more capacity that the backups and the sewer overflows should be eliminated," Volkmann said.

The town awarded the bid for the first phase of the project to Rex Construction Co. Inc., of Schererville, for about $4.2 million.

Town officials estimated the entire project will cost about $6 million.