Bridgeville gets $1 million state grant for flood control

Efforts to mitigate the next big flood along McLaughlin Run in Bridgeville got at $1 million boost through a state grant.

Borough officials and state lawmakers announced the grant March 21. The money will come from the state’s Local Share Account program, which is funded through taxes on gambling.

Since 2018, when a massive flood left one woman dead and scores of businesses and homes destroyed or damaged, Bridgeville has implemented several smaller flood control measures to control high waters on McLaughlin Run. However, borough officials want to tackle a more ambitious project to install a levee system along the creek.

The first phase of the McLaughlin Run Flood Control Project will cost over $7.1 million, so Bridgeville will need additional funding before construction can begin. Borough officials are hoping the $1 million Local Share Account grant will be the first of many grant approvals.

“It’s a big step for us,” said Borough Manager Joe Kauer. “It’s making this project more of a reality rather than just some ideas.”

The borough has also applied for funding through other state programs as well as through the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Kauer hopes construction can begin in 2024 or 2025.

The McLaughlin Run Flood Control Project calls for the installation of a soldier beam and lagging levee wall along the west bank of the creek from Commercial Street through Chartiers Creek along Carol Avenue. The culvert under Commercial Street will be replaced, and additional storm sewers along Carol and Washington avenues will be built. Two screw pump systems will also be installed to remove flood waters from this area.

The borough has already eliminated a baseball field in McLaughlin Run Park and converted it to a flood plain, purchased and demolished six flood-prone houses on Baldwin Street, reconstructed existing flood walls, installed a trash rack in the creek to capture debris and prevent it from blocking the flow of water downstream, and made other improvements to the creek area.

Kauer said those efforts helped mitigate the damage from flooding, such as when the borough experienced a pair of floods in 2021. Areas of Bridgeville had to be evacuated during those floods and the water caused damage to several properties, but Kauer said it wasn’t nearly as bad as the 2018 flood.

After that flood, the borough conducted a hydrological engineering study of the McLaughlin Run watershed and the plans for the flood control project came out of that study.

Future phases of the flood control project will involve other areas of McLaughlin Run, such as along Baldwin Street and McLaughlin Run Road.