The City of Austin gave a brief presentation on their plans and answered some questions at the ANA meeting in August. I wasn't involved with the Drainage Committee at the time, so didn't take notes. Here's my best recollection of the highlights.
- The project is intended to improve drainage around Bull Creek road between White Horse Trail and FM2222.
- There is somewhere around $8M earmarked for the project.
- The first phase of the project will install a new 3 foot by 6 foot covered boxed culvert under White Rock road starting somewhere around Woodview. It will run under to White Rock and empty into Shoal Creek. There will be series of drains entering the new pipe and a new culvert will be added to the drainage ditch between Woodview and Bull Creek at White Rock. (The existing culvert will also remain in place.) This phase is scheduled for completion in the first half of 2008.
- The master plan included adding a drainage pond to the self-storage facility (on Burnet) that backs onto the drainage ditch. This plan has been abandoned because the cost of purchasing the land is much higher than originally estimated, and the city is looking for other options.
- A second phase plans to add another covered box culvert running along White Horse Trail with inlet drains. It didn't seem like plans for this phase were finalized. However, the city representatives gave assurances that funds have been allocated for this phase. It's just a matter of creating the best plan now that a drainage pond is not an option.
Concerns expressed by Allendale residents.
- There was some concern that the city has underestimated the amount of water that flows through the drainage ditch between White Rock and Woodview.
- Residents near the spot where the new pipe will empty into Shoal Creed expressed concerns about how this may effect the water level in Shoal Creek.
- Residents backing onto the storage facility on Burnet expressed concerns about how water is currently draining from that property.
The city noted these concerns.
