Bridgeville gets grant to help alleviate flooding

Bridgeville leaders are hoping $525,000 in grants will help to alleviate flooding in the community.

In November, the Commonwealth Financing Authority announced that the municipality received funds for two projects through the Allegheny County Gaming and Economic Development fund that will address flooding in the borough.

“There is a need to get this done,” council President Mike Tolmer said.

Flooding in the Baldwin Street area has been a problem for as long as he can remember.

In recent years, storms are hitting harder and more frequently, he said. Homes have been flooded and belongings destroyed.

In June 2018, a woman from Upper St. Clair lost her life in the floods.

Following that flood, the borough did flood mitigation work on McLaughlin Run Creek, cleaning out debris and improving the waterway’s flow.

This appeared to help, as there were some “pretty significant storms” over this past year that didn’t cause flooding, Tolmer said.

Still, the borough is working to do more.

After the 2018 flood, borough leaders worked with engineers to identify what could be done, Tolmer said. They submitted permits and applied for grants to make it happen.

The $425,000 McLaughlin Run flood mitigation grant is a five-part project, Tolmer said.

It includes lowering the field at McLaughlin Park and adding a trash rack to help steer the water.

“We want to flood our park instead of our houses,” Tolmer said.

The grant also will fund cleaning out culverts near Commercial Street and addressing issues at access points in McLaughlin Run.

The $100,000 Bower Hill stormwater grant will help fund the installation of three new storm inlets and added concrete sewer pipes to help control stormwater runoff.

The grants will be supplemented with borough funds.

“My goal is to have the work be done this spring,” Tolmer said.