The Erosion of Main Street

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The intersection of Phelps and Main in downtown Springfield has a stormwater problem.|ret||ret||tab|

A tributary of the Jordan Creek runs under the intersection, channeling stormwater from Cox North, the Government Plaza, the Post Office, etc. into the Jordan, which lies one block to the south, said Larry Teel, street supervisor for the Department of Public Works. |ret||ret||tab|

The storm of July 12 caused the street to buckle at Phelps and Main for the second time this year. The street "blew out about a month ago in the same place," Teel said, when an inch and a half of rain fell in 15 minutes as measured at the Public Works shop only a mile away.|ret||ret||tab|

Heavy downpours are not the norm for this area, but they do occur. And the street collapse at Phelps and Main is not unique to this year's storms, according to Teel.|ret||ret||tab|

The same thing happened in 1995 and during the flood of 1993. A permanent fix for the problem widening the culvert from Phelps to Water Street would be expensive. Teel's estimate which he qualifies as purely off the top of his head is half a million dollars.|ret||ret||tab|

Besides the demolition and construction for the street and culvert, the intervening railroad tracks would have to be relocated and their elevation changed, he said.|ret||ret||tab|

The intersection will be repaired again. Meanwhile, "there's damage like that all over town," Teel said. The street repair crew "will be doing this for weeks."[[In-content Ad]]