BERLIN – As rain pelted Worcester County this week, Berlin officials assured residents the town’s stormwater projects were moving ahead.
Town staff told the town council Monday that the offline wetlands project off Flower Street was nearly complete and that the Flower Street culvert project should begin within the next month.
“That culvert under Flower Street is going to make a huge difference,” said Jane Kreiter, the town’s director of public works and water resources.
Kreiter said the offline wetlands project, which is located behind the Flower Street Multi-Purpose Building, will minimize flooding in the Hudson Branch area by providing excess water with a place to drain.
“The offline wetlands are just about complete,” Kreiter said. “All we have left to do is a little bit of beautification.”
She said the Maryland Coastal Bays Program would be helping the town select the best plants for the area. A fence will be erected around the wetlands once the project is finished.
According to Kreiter the next Hudson Branch project, the replacement of the culvert under Flower Street, will create immediate improvements. Though a bid has been awarded for the project work hasn’t started yet because the new culvert, which is three times larger than the existing one, is currently being manufactured.
“They’re hoping to have it complete within the next month,” Kreiter said.
The existing culvert, she explained, is undersized.
“Water literally goes over the road on Flower Street when we have rain…,” Kreiter said. “When that backs up it backs up all the way up to William Street.”
She said the Flower Street projects were being done first because they were downstream.
“There was no point in in starting upstream when if you fix that you’re serving only the upstream people,” she said. “If we start it downstream, the furthest point away, once we have that offline wetland that’s complete that will help the bottlenecking.”
Those projects, she went on, would alleviate flooding along William Street once they were done. In addition, in the future another offline wetlands will be constructed near William Street. After that, stormwater improvements will proceed to the area of Graham and Grice streets.
Mayor Gee Williams thanked residents for being patient through the process, which includes five phases and will cost at least $2 million. He pointed out the project would help with flooding and not negatively impact the environment.
“I think we’ll have something that will serve the community forever,” he said. “I’m very pleased. I know we’re all excited.”
