The City of Soldotna and the Kenai Peninsula Borough will be split the cost of the final stage of Binkley Street improvements.

The sewer collection lift station at the intersection of Corral Avenue and Binkley Street will be decommissioned, replaced with an upgraded system and an
insulated, stand-by generator will be installed to maintain pump flow when the area has a power outage, said city engineer Kyle Kornelis.

“The city’s existing sewer collection infrastructure is insufficient to accommodate the borough’s new four-story specialty clinics facility, which is currently under construction at the hospital campus,” Kornelis wrote in an Aug. 27 memo to city manager Mark Dixson. “An upgraded and large capacity life station is required and will be incorporated into the Binkley Street improvements project. The lift station upgrade will also consider future growth and will be sized accordingly.”

This lift station will be slightly larger than any of the others currently in operation within city limits, Kornelis said. Its volumetric flow rate is greater than any other lift station due to its central location near the hospital.

Soldotna will be contributing half of the $115,000 to the upgraded lift station costs, while the borough will contribution will not exceed $115,000, according to a memo from Kornelis. The fund appropriation was presented to the city Wednesday evening in an effort to speed up the process.

“With the summer construction season winding down we believe the expeditious appropriation is prudent,” Kornelis said in a city memo.

Project manager Lee Frey said the timeline for upgrading the lift station has not yet been set.

“We hope to button up the Binkley corridor before winter shuts construction down,” Frey said.

Construction has run into some setbacks after running into issues with underground renovations the contractor had not originally planned for, Frey said.

“You always find something you weren’t expecting when you are digging underground,” Frey said in a previous Clarion interview.

Construction will also be halted and portions of the lift station will have to be carried over into spring if bad weather sets in, Frey said.

Right now the city is focused on the Marydale Avenue portion of the improvements, and minimizing detours as much as possible, Kornelis said.

Kelly Sullivan can be reached at kelly.sullivan@peninsulaclarion.com.