Speedway Storm Drain Work Begins(posted May 20) The Marion County Surveyor's Office plans to submit elevation data to HNTB by the first of June. This is a necessary step in the proposed idea to install another pipe to divert storm water from rushing down the street surface of Gerrard Avenue. The street has a low point between 21st and 20th Streets that creates flooding for surrounding neighbors. Allison Avenue also suffered from flooding in basements as well, especially in the 2003 flood. The surveyors were out shooting elevations during the week of May 15. For the most part, the storm drains are clean according to Tim Greene of the Surveyor's office. He explained one catch basin was full of silt, but the overall conditions of the storm catch basin drains are clean. "I've seen worse," he said. Greene said he could not speculate what is causing the problem because he does not have maps of the sewer networks to see the flows. The Speedway Storm Water Drainage Board decided elevations are needed to see if gravity can move the water. If not, another idea will be needed because the drainage board opposed using a lift station. This discussion started in November about moving the flow to 20th Avenue and east to be discharged into Dry Run Ditch. However, a new perspective to mitigate the flooding in Speedway is in the works since the April 15 drainage board meeting. The town council replaced Gordon Evans as the town engineer. At the May 18th storm water meeting, John Duncan, HNTB Engineer who specializes in storm water, took over the investigation of the town's drainage problems. Duncan is requesting that homeowners provide specific dates when the sewage backup occurred in their basements so he could correlate the backup with the storm event. Tom Hutka of HNTB is serving as the town engineer. Hutka said they were going to find the cause that creates sewage to backup into basements. There still seems to be a miscommunication between the board and HNTB. Hutka was not aware that Marion County Surveyors had been out on the job for two days when he gave the report that indicated their arrival soon. Apparently Duncan and Hutka did not cross paths with the county surveyors as they were out walking the streets to familiarize themselves with the drainage landscape prior to the 5 p.m. drainage meeting. Robert Wetnight of the Street Department informed Hutka the surveyors were out shooting elevations. During the meeting, the board also failed to tell Hutka and Duncan that in 2006 the storm water board conducted surveys to gather data to isolate what areas were prone to sewage backup. The town has already spent approximately $16,000 for HNTB to do studies from 1600 block to 2100 block of Gerrard Avenue. Wanda Smith of 1654 Gerrard Avenue said gathering of data has been going on for a year. She noted that her drains are clear from the lateral to her house. She said she even has videotape to support her comment that proves she is not at fault for the sewage backing up into her home. "We can we expect results?" Smith asked. She said she was going to hold these men accountable to do something to fix the problem. Hutka expected to have a better handle on the situation by next month since they are just starting to gather data. The drainage board also has delayed the Gerrard Avenue project until the board can observe "the benefit" from the street department's current project to add new drain inlets and rebuild two inlets west of the intersection of Woolco Lane and 22nd Street. Four new inlets were recommended as well as rebuilding two inlets at Lynhurst Drive and 22nd Street. The additional inlets should collect more storm water before it flows eastward towards Lynhurst Drive and 21st Street. The project should be completed by June. During the intense rains, the pipes surcharge in the 2100 block and flow down Gerrard Avenue into the combined storm and sewage pipes. The surface water volume is so great that it floods the street and into the yards causing sewage to backup into basements. According to Street Department Commissioner Wendell Walters, Coppertree Apartments is expected to clean out the ditch along the south side of its property line so the water flow moves to the west. This should also relieve the Gerrard Avenue area from additional water volume. The silt clean out project is scheduled for June. In other matters, Town Manager John McCurtain explained the Indianapolis Motor Speedway failed to get permits to asphalt over an acre site for disabled parking west of Dry Run Ditch between 20th and 21st Street. IMS also added three drain inlets that eventually discharge into Dry Run Ditch. McCurtain said the IMS would address the permitting error after the race. |
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