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July 2, 2008

West Terre Haute to proceed with $1.2M stormwater construction project

Town receives $500K Community Focus Fund grant for project

By Howard Greninger

WEST TERRE HAUTE — A state grant plus Vigo County matching funds will allow the town of West Terre Haute to proceed with a $1.2 million stormwater construction project aimed at reducing repetitive flooding.

The town this week received a $500,000 Community Focus Fund grant for a stormwater improvement project. West Terre Haute was one of 33 communities and counties to receive grants totaling $14 million.

The grants are administered through the Indiana Office of Community and Rural Affairs, which is funded through the federal Community Development Block Grant program.

The Vigo County Board of Commissioners designated $50,000 for community development as part of a five-year plan for use of the county’s Economic Development Income Tax. Commissioners designated the full amount in 2007 and again for 2008 to West Terre Haute. However, the town failed to seek the 2007 amount, requiring the Vigo County Council to approve $100,000 in EDIT funds this year for the town.

The county’s funding was important, as it provided a match for the state grant, said Terry Jones, grant administrator for West Central Indiana Economic Development District.

The town is to obtain a loan from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to pay for the remainder of the project, Jones said.

The entire project, adding in preliminary engineering and design, will cost about $1.3 million, Jones said. The town previously established a stormwater utility fee of $7 per month. West Terre Haute, with a population of about 2,300 residents, has 877 households that pay the fee, Jones said. The fee was established for this project and will allow the town to expand its stormwater drainage capability in future projects, he said.

The stormwater project includes installation of drainage pipes along at least 11 blocks of the town, with the southern section draining into a new water collection basin in front of the Cherry Grove Pump Station.

“The basin will hold water next to the pump station and allow those pumps to work more efficiently. Right now, they are cycling on and off too quickly. This will collect more water to allow the pumps to run longer instead of just for a short period. This will provide the capacity [of water] that the pumps were actually designed to handle,” Jones said.

Eric Smith, engineer for Hannum, Wagle & Cline, a Terre Haute engineering firm, said the project “greatly improves stormwater drainage in the north end, which has virtually nothing.”

The stormwater collection system on the north side of U.S. 40 will consist of a drainage pipe on Ninth Street from Paris Avenue to just north of U.S. 40 and on Paris Avenue from Ninth Street to Seventh Street. The existing pond on the Providence Housing property on Miller Street has been re-designed and a new pump station will be constructed on that property, said Toni Presnell, project manager for Hannum, Wagle & Cline.

The pump station will push water to Sugar Creek to the west through a force main pipe placed on various private easements and within U.S. 40 right-of-way. An inlet also will be placed to assist in draining a baseball field along Paris Avenue, Presnell said.

The collection system on the south side of West Terre Haute will include pipe on Seventh Street to Ratcliffe Street from the existing Cherry Grove Pump Station. In addition to the new basin in front of the pump station, a new pipe will be added from the existing stormwater system on Olive Street that will connect the system to the Cherry Grove Pump Station, Presnell said.

Smith said the town is currently seeking federal funds to rebuild one of the pumps at the Cherry Grove Pump Station. The stormwater project also includes installation of equipment to allow the Cherry Grove station pumps to work automatically instead of being activated by hand.

In all, Presnell said pipes to be installed for the stormwater project include approximately 300 feet of 15-inch diameter pipe; 780 feet of 18-inch diameter pipe; 708 feet of 24-inch diameter pipe; 380 feet of 30-inch diameter pipe; 840 feet of 36-inch diameter pipe; 350 feet of 42-inch diameter pipe; 200 feet of 48-inch diameter pipe; as well as 600 feet of 58 by 34-inch oval pipe; and 3,030 feet of 10-inch force main pipe.

Smith said the project may be let for bid as soon as the end of August, with construction possibly starting by November. Presnell said the project should be completed by August 2009.

“It certainly will help with the surface water … as well as during a flood event. For normal rain events, it will help save our curbs and roads,” said Scott McClain, president of the Town Council. “We haven’t had any big projects since the sewer project went in, I think in the mid-1990s, so we’re excited.”

“We hope within a couple years, funding permitted, we can start branching off this system, whenever possible,” McClain said.

Howard Greninger can be reached at (812) 231-4204 or howard.greninger@tribstar.com.

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