Duh…Fort Worth edition

Remember, when nothing ever gets done, it just gets worse.  Also called, kicking the can.  The Fort Worth Weekly checked in on the Arlington Heights flooding issues.

Stop us when we get to something you haven’t heard before -

….that “the pipe system that was installed 80-plus years ago is not large enough to keep rain runoff underground” all the way to the Trinity River.

The solution, as everyone is aware, would be to tear up the streets in the flood areas and put in large storm-water drainage pipes that would carry the floodwater to the Trinity. But, as Simmons noted, the cost makes that unfeasible.

“You know,” said one resident who did not want her name used, “the city has funds for their Trinity [River] Vision project, and they have funds for their bridge to nowhere, but they don’t have money for this very important infrastructure issue. I don’t buy that.”

“Essentially,” she said, “the city has allowed over-building on an under-served community.”

“What we really want,” Helmer said, “is to have the city fix the problem upstream. You can’t just allow people to overbuild continually without having a problem in the lower areas.”

Read about how the city doesn’t have the money to fix issues it has helped create in the FWW -

Arlington Heights Flooding too Costly?

Arlington Heights Update

The Fort Worth Star-Telegram has an update on the Arlington Heights flooding issues.  Seems like we just heard something similar Saturday night at the Trinity River Improvement Partnership (TRIP) event.  They even talked about Arlington Heights, flooding, watersheds, flood plains, creeks, developers, inadequate drainage.  They may be on to something.  YOU should pay attention.

Everybody in Fort Worth lives in a watershed -- an area of land that catches rain or snow and drains into a creek or lake and eventually into the Trinity River. Public planners generations ago built pipelines that tied into those natural drains.

The 40-inch pipes in Arlington Heights are too small to handle a severe downpour. A video produced by the city shows a raging flood down Carleton Avenue in 2004 that flooded several homes. An analysis showed that during the storm, rain fell at 2.2 inches per hour.

Fixing the problem isn't as simple as cutting into the ground and upsizing the pipe.

Developers built houses over the pipes.

TRIP put on an excellent event.  We are looking forward to the next one.  We'll see YOU there.  YOU can't afford to miss it.
WHO was at the TRIP event?  Lots of folks.  Including Durango.