http://www.waxahachiedailylight.com/articles/2007/07/15/dailylight/news/05-07-15-streets.txt
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Even before the unusually heavy and frequent rains of
this spring and summer began, the condition of the roads in
The rain and flooding worsened the condition of already
damaged roads, washing out bridges and making some roads nearly
impassable.
Damages haven’t been limited to the county’s roads,
however. In Waxahachie, the rain has had significant consequences on
the city’s streets, creating potholes throughout town.
“Rain, especially
rain this heavy, radically increases the number of potholes,” public works
director Jeff Chambers said.
The damages to the city’s streets aren’t as
bad as those to county roads, Chambers said, saying the “county uses a lower
level of pavement” that is mostly chip-seal.
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Chip-seal is a cheaper means of paving roads, Chambers
said, noting also the county is responsible for far more miles of road than the
city.
Waxahachie uses asphalt and concrete for its roads, which creates
higher-grade roads that can handle higher traffic loads.
These road types
also deal with the rain and flooding better as their surfaces are typically
better at preventing water from seeping through the pavement into the
roadbed.
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Moisture penetrating the roadbed weakens it and, after
repeated stresses from vehicles, it eventually breaks down, forming a
pothole.
The rains have caused “a lot of deterioration,” Chambers said,
adding there has been “a very significant spike in pothole
complaints.”
Complaints have come in from throughout the city, with
concentrations from Gingerbread Village (located off Brown Street east of
Northside Elementary), the Bellvue Addition and University, Virginia, Kirven and
Harbin streets.
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These areas were already set for road improvement work,
Chambers said, saying the original schedule was for the work to happen over the
next three years.
That schedule is being moved up, and Chambers
anticipates the repairs taken care of during the next two years
instead.
In the meantime, the city is sending crews out to repair the
streets and potholes now that some dry weather has come
along.
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The public works department is also responsible for
keeping the right of ways and ditches mowed and cleaned out.
Tall grass
in some ditches is catching debris and is a potential cause for concern and a
definite cause for complaints, but it simply has not been dry enough to mow,
Chambers said.
During the storms, the city’s culverts and street drains
didn’t experience any significant issues, Chambers
said.
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The storms did affect the city’s sanitary sewer system,
which experienced some infiltration and inflow, director of utilities David
Bailey said.
In any sanitary sewer system, there is seepage into pipes or
runoff flowing directly into the system, Bailey said, adding, “Our system is not
exempt from that.”
Filled with rainwater, the system’s main lift station
did get water to the treatment center, but there were incidences of manhole
overflows, Bailey said, noting those are a non-compliance with
regulations.
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The city followed procedure and notified the state
within 24 hours of finding the overflows, Bailey said, saying that overall, the
system performed well.
The city’s sanitary sewer is designed to allow for
a certain amount of infilitration and inflow “because no system is going to be
watertight,” he said.
When the rains first came through the area, the
ground absorbed a significant amount of the water and only a limited amount
entered the system. However, after the extended rains, the swollen creeks and
saturated ground forced most of the water to run off or seep into older pipes,
filling the sanitary sewer system to capacity and then
some.
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Older systems built with clay pipe are
especially at risk, for while the tile does not deteriorate over time, it is
susceptible to cracks and breaks by things such as tree roots, Bailey
said.
Some of the system is more than 100 years old, Bailey said, adding
that while the city has replaced quite a bit of the larger lines with PVC pipe,
there are smaller clay tile lines still in place.
The city has been
notified of water damage to some property and there have been some claims turned
in, which the city’s insurance will take care of, Bailey
said.
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With the manhole overflows, the state
checked the city’s history against its database and recommended the city join a
sanitary sewer overflow outreach initiative, Bailey said, explaining,
“Basically, (this recommendation) is a polite way of the state saying to take
care of it.”
The city is working on plans to minimize inflows to the
system, which helps prevent overflows, Bailey said, saying the initiative calls
for a detailed plan to be implemented during the next 10 years.
In
addition to working on the plan itself, the city is actively working on flow
monitoring to find and correct deficiencies in the system, Bailey said. “By
having a good tight inspection on our system, we really minimize the amount of
water getting in there.”
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Bailey said the process of examining,
evaluating and rehabiliting the system is continuous and as long as the city
continues to develop and re-develop, the utilities department will have to
continue its work to address any problems.
“It’s an ongoing project,”
Bailey said.