FAYETTEVILLE -- Neighbors are hopeful a $1 million construction project in the Washington-Willow Historic District will address some of the flooding they've experienced in recent years.
In the weeks ahead, workers with Crossland Heavy Contractors of Columbus, Kan., will tear up streets, sidewalks and trees along Olive Avenue, Maple Street and Walnut Avenue in order to lay drainage pipe in the neighborhood.
City service request
Go to fayetteville-ar.gov… to report a ditch, drainage culvert or storm drain that needs cleaning. Or call the Fayetteville Transportation Division at 479-575-8228.
Source: Staff report
Of all of the city's problem spots for stormwater runoff, the area at the upper end of the Scull Creek ranks highest.
"We have lots of smaller things scattered around," said Chris Brown, city engineer, "but this one affects the most number of people and has the most property damage potential, so it's the one that's really No. 1."
The new pipe will replace an undersized culvert that was built when many of the houses were erected in the 1920s and 1930s.
The culvert is 4 feet tall in some places with stone walls on either side and nothing but soil underneath. In other spots, it narrows to a 30-inch-diameter pipe.
The culvert runs under or near about a dozen houses, making it difficult for city crews to remove clogs caused by brush and debris during heavy rains.
"It's just essentially a very, very old drainage system that was kind of hodgepodged together as the area developed many years ago," Brown said. He said the new storm system "actually matches what's needed out there."
An 8-foot-by-4-foot pipe will run along the west side of Olive Avenue, underneath Maple Street and on the west side of Walnut. The existing culvert will be sealed shut.
As workers dig underground to lay the new pipe, streets will be closed and driveways will be inaccessible at various points.
Eden Reif, a Walnut Avenue resident, said the construction will be a pain.
"I know it's a good thing; I know it has to happen," Reif said. "I have to trust that the city engineers know what they're doing. I'll just be very happy when it's over."
Reif -- and several of her neighbors -- have borne the brunt of flooding in the past.
Heavy rain in April 2011 popped a manhole cover, sending a veritable river down Walnut Avenue and into people's yards and basements.
Reif remembered water up to the top step of her basement.
"To say that it was exciting would be an understatement," she said.
Unfortunately for Reif, the project will uproot trees on the south side of her house where the new pipe will outflow into Scull Creek.
That means water that had rushed into the street and people's yards will be concentrated in a pipe that daylights in her backyard.
"There's going to be a whole heck of a lot of water, which makes me a little nervous," Reif said.
But, she said, she's taking city engineers at their word: the larger pipe and the downstream channel will be big enough to hold floodwater.
Brown said some stream bank stabilization is needed downstream to stop erosion where there's a bend in the creek.
The creek, which runs west along Rebecca Street toward College Avenue, should be capable of handling excess flows, he said.
"It's just something we'll have to watch," Brown said.
The $1 million undertaking is being paid for with money the City Council has stashed away each year for drainage repairs.
Crossland will have 12 months to complete the project, but Brown said he doesn't expect construction to take that long.
Once the historic district work is done, city engineers can turn their attention to other trouble spots.
Brown said Fayetteville's hilly topography and decades-old drainage systems are responsible for flooding in several pockets of the city. In newer areas of town -- land west of Interstate 49, for example -- there aren't as many issues, he added.
"Really, the older parts of town are the areas that we have the problems that have been long duration and we haven't really been able to address all of them," Brown said.
NW News on 06/08/2015