We are sure all our readers noticed the rain this and last week. We hope everyone also noticed how quickly the water left our roads.
This is because city crews have been busy this year blowing out drainage lines and clearing drainage ditches. In this past year, the city has discovered and repaired two storm drain channels that had been covered in dirt, and in addition, work crews have been cleaning and clearing existing ditches regularly. Besides that, we also noticed cleaning crews clearing out storm drains downtown during some of the worst downpours, which helped the streets drain.
Fall brings leaves and winter brings storms, and we are happy to note that the storms did not choke our roads and make traffic worse than it had to be and major points of entry were not blocked by water.
Clearing out storm drains might seem routine—and it is—but routine should not be mistaken for minor or unnecessary. Blocked streets can strand residents, which may make them late for work, a doctor’s appointment or something even more serious. Even if no residents are on the street, standing water is bad for roads, so the quicker the water is whisked away, the better for our infrastructure.
On that note, we would also like to thank MDOT work crews who have been busy this week rerpairing damaged sections of Highway 11. After last week’s storms, some large sections of pavement were loosened, but those have mostly been fixed. We should point out the city also has done a good job of repairing streets damaged by sewer repairs. Those repairs are necessary and so is the street damage, but the city has mostly repaired the patches of gravel.
Road safety is not something we should take for granted.