Project to address flooding slated to begin this year

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By Andreas Yilma, Staff Writer

A driver passes through the flooded intersection of Charles Street and Cherry Street Extension in Naugatuck after a heavy rain storm in 2012. The borough is slated to start a project this year to address flooding in the area. -REPUBLICAN-AMERICAN ARCHIVES

NAUGATUCK — A project to resolve flooding problems in the Cherry Street area is expected to start later this year.

The Board of Mayor and Burgesses at a special meeting July 19 approved a contract for $35,000 with Civil 1, an engineering firm out of Woodbury, for design work for the project.

Public Works Director James Stewart said Civil 1 is finalizing preliminary designs done by Borough Engineer Wayne Zirolli. He is hopeful the project can start this fall and finish next spring or summer.

Flooding in the Cherry Street area during heavy rain has been an issue for years. Water flows from Hunters Mountain Road to behind Fairchild Park and through Pleasant Avenue, then builds up around the intersection of Cherry Street Extension and Charles Street.

“Although there hasn’t been significant flooding in recent years, there have been numerous occasions of flooding over the last 20 years,” Stewart said.

The proposed project includes upgrading a drainage basin in a wooded area behind Fairchild Park and a drainage swale in the Perock Lane and Lewis Street area near Hunters Mountain Road. The project aims to improve the upper watershed and make a larger detention basin with an outlet to release water more efficiently.

Naugatuck is earmarked to receive $1 million in state funds for the project.

1 COMMENT

  1. Drive around town during a heavy storm, guys.
    It’s not just Cherry Street that’s flooding.

    I can’t wait for the road I live on to ice up again during the winter months because of the flooding on my street.
    That’s if the summertime runoff doesn’t erode my yard away and sink my house before then…

    Why does my street flood during rain storms?
    My street’s storm drain is uphill from the flow of water…
    Water doesn’t run uphill.
    Remember that in your designs, Wayne.

    *You could have fixed it when you approved the repaving and other road work done in the area last year… but no. The work was already approved to keep the drain uphill from where the water flows.