Conversations continue about ways to improve Emporia’s stormwater drainage, specifically in parts of downtown, after heavy rainfall during the early-morning hours of Aug. 13.
Storms dumped anywhere from 4-6.25 inches of rain in a two-hour stretch across town. Both Emporia Public Works Director Dean Grant and Emporia Main Street Director Casey Woods say efforts to clear drains will definitely help. Grant says a lot of issues happen when leaves or grass clippings go into the storm drains, whether by accident or by design, and then stack up after periods of light rainfall.
Woods says Main Street has an active cleanup schedule every year for this very purpose.
Woods would also like to see an adjustment when it comes to upcoming resurfacing projects by lowering the crown below door level, although it may be too late for adjustments to the CCLIP resurfacing project on Commercial between the railroad tracks and 12th Avenue this fall.
City officials have deferred to the Kansas Department of Transportation, with Commercial Street also doubling as Kansas Highway 99 in that part of downtown. KDOT engineer Steve Baalman says such an effort would take pavement coring to see what is under the surface and redesign work to determine whether lowering the crown could help drainage.
Stormwater utilities are part of the Emporia City Commission’s study meeting agenda Wednesday.
