Springfield eligible for $20.9M in federal funds

The city of Springfield became eligible for $20.9 million in federal funding for needed stormwater flood control work after President Barack Obama signed the Water Resources Reform and Development Act into law on Tuesday.

Under the transportation infrastructure bill, the Springfield Jordan Creek Watershed project becomes eligible for funding, and if appropriated, $14 million would come from the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers, while the other $7 million would come from a local match, likely from the city and other local sources, according to a city news release.

The project area comprises two locations: Wilson's Creek, east of Scenic Avenue to Jordan Creek, north of Bennett Street; and the creek east of Glenstone Avenue between Chestnut Expressway and Kearney Street.

Projects would include:

• five detention basins to be constructed along the upper Jordan Creek Watershed in northeast Springfield to provide 165 acre-feet of storage and reduce downstream flooding;
• increasing flood protection at the Euticals plant by raising a portion of Bennett Street west of Kansas Expressway;
• increasing the size of Jordan Creek by about 2,100 feet from upstream of Bennett Street to upstream of Scenic Avenue;
• modifying a railroad bridge adjacent to the Euticals plant to increase its flood-carrying capacity; and
• construction of a diversion structure upstream of Bennett Street to protect the plant.

The changes are projected to save Springfield $1 million a year annually in flood damages, according to the release.