Lawrence Unveils Plan to Tame Downtown Flash Flooding
After repeated summer downpours overwhelmed storm drains, the city of Lawrence released a $40 million plan to expand drainage capacity around Massachusetts Street.
City engineers in Lawrence on Thursday presented a long-awaited plan to reduce the flash flooding that has repeatedly swamped businesses along Massachusetts Street during heavy summer storms.
The roughly $40 million proposal calls for larger underground stormwater lines, a series of retention areas on the city's edges, and permeable pavement in several public parking lots. Officials said the current drainage network, parts of which date to the mid-20th century, simply cannot move water fast enough during the intense cloudbursts that have become more common.
"We are asking a system built for a different era to handle a different climate," the city's public works director said. Merchants downtown, some of whom have filed insurance claims two or three times in recent years, largely welcomed the plan while pressing for a faster timeline.
The city commission is expected to consider a financing package this summer that would spread the cost across a decade.
