Grants will cover cost of fixes for recurring flooding problems on Monroeville street

The Monroeville Municipal Authority received grants that will cover the costs of a project aimed at fixing ongoing flooding problems along Woodhaven Drive.

The Commonwealth Financing Authority issued two separate grants totaling $722,675 on Aug. 17. Both grants require matches, bringing the total funds available for the $1.3 million project to around $936,000.

Another grant totaling $801,500 from the Allegheny County Sanitary Authority was awarded previously and will be used toward the project, said Dave Kerchner, an engineer with Bankson Engineers, the Monroeville authority’s consulting firm. Getting bids for the project is the next step, he said.

Kerchner said the grants exceed the project’s total cost, but that the extra money could come in handy if the authority receives bids that come in higher than the $1.3 million estimate.

Kerchner hopes construction can start next year and expects everything to wrap up by the end of 2021.

The project involves rehabilitating 35,000 feet of sewer lines in what Kerchner called “the Garden City sewer shed.” The sewers are structurally deficient, he said, and flood during heavy rain storms.

Woodhaven Drive intersects with Logans Ferry Road — an area that in July 2019 flooded several homes and entrapped one woman as flood waters washed her car off the road. Officials discussed options that could fix the flooding in the area in December but have not decided on a solution.

Options discussed during a December meeting included projects ranging in cost from $1 million to $2.5 million.

Monroeville Manager Tim Little said the municipality and the water authority are two separate entities. However, the flooding issue in that area is a common enemy, he said.

The municipality, he said, is still awaiting a permit from the state Department of Environmental Protection in order to build detention ponds on its Public Works Department property along Starr Drive.

The property lies within the same watershed that floods during heavy storms, he said. Little also said the municipality was able to clear fallen trees in a stream in the area that has been prone to flooding.

“That seems to have alleviated the problem,” he said. “Not fixed, but alleviated. But we’re also having a dry summer. About five weeks ago, we had a pretty good downpour, and there were no issues out there at Logans Ferry Road on that site.”

Little said he is unsure when the DEP permits will be issued that will allow for the construction of detention ponds. However, during a council meeting Sept. 8, Little said the municipality had not applied for those permits from the DEP.

“I’m not saying we’re not going to apply for it, but we haven’t yet,” he said.