Groundbreaking launches next phase of Lincolndale flood reduction project

FORT WAYNE, Ind. (ADAMS) – On Monday, City Utilities and area businesses broke ground on the second phase of a stormwater improvement along the Lincolndale Drain corridor.

The effort is designed to reduce chronic flooding, improve local waterways, and protect and increase habitat.

City Utilities released the following:

This phase will create a two-acre wetland and restore 740 feet of the drain, increasing stormwater storage and improving flow in an area that has experienced repeated flooding during heavy rain.

Lincolndale Drain begins in a residential neighborhood and flows through wooded, commercial and industrial areas. The Phase II project site is located between Executive and Investment Drive in the Interstate Industrial Park.

“Nearby businesses and motorists have seen the effects of chronic flooding when heavy rain overwhelms the drain,” said Anne Marie Smrchek, P.E., Manager of City Utilities Stormwater Engineering. “This phase will provide much-needed storage and improve how stormwater moves through the corridor. It is an important step — but not the last — in our continuing work along Lincolndale Drain.”

The Lincolndale Drain project is one of 50 major stormwater improvement projects City Utilities plans to undertake during the next five years.

A $300,000 grant from the Great Lakes Commission’s Great Lakes Sediment and Nutrient Reduction Program covers approximately 40% of the $746,921 Phase II project. The City Utilities stormwater budget covers the remaining funding.

“The waterways of the Great Lakes basin are deeply connected, and improvements made here in Fort Wayne provide benefits all the way downstream to Lake Erie,” said Connor Roessler of the Great Lakes Commission. “The Great Lakes Commission is pleased to support this project with funding through the Great Lakes Sediment and Nutrient Reduction Program, which will use wetlands and stream restoration to reduce erosion and pollution, improve habitat and help alleviate chronic flooding.”

The wetland will serve a 275-acre drainage area and is expected to capture or treat more than 11.5 million gallons of stormwater runoff annually. The project will also:

* Reconstruct an existing detention basin.

* Restore and stabilize 740 feet of streambank.

* Plant 40 native trees and 60 native shrubs.

* Establish native wetland and erosion-control vegetation.

* Create two acres of pollinator habitat; and

* Add rock cross vanes and stone cobbles to improve aquatic habitat.

When completed, the improvement is expected to keep more than 350 pounds of phosphorus and 100 tons of sediment out of local waterways each year. The wetland and native vegetation will slow and filter stormwater before it reaches Spy Run Creek, the St. Marys River and, ultimately, the Maumee River and Western Lake Erie Basin.

Future work will include stormwater piping and drainage and detention improvements in the residential area west of Phase II. The project is one of more than 50 drainage and stormwater improvement projects planned for the community over the next five years.