Help may be on the way for one of Columbus’ notorious flood zones.

City Engineer Kevin Stafford pitched a plan on Thursday to clean ditches in Ward 1 near Mississippi University for Women. The plan, which carries a price tag of $382,000, will alleviate flooding problems around the campus.

The proposal looks at two areas, one on either side of the MUW campus. The first starts at a culvert near Tampico Bay Mexican Restaurant, crosses Bell Avenue and eventually reaches the Luxapalila River. The projected cost for this part of the project is $155,000.

The second area starts at 11th Street South at the southwest corner of the MUW campus, crosses Townsend Park and 15th Street South and then ends at the gravel ponds near APAC, located near the intersection of 15th Street South and Pickensville Road. This piece of the project carries a cost of $226,000.

“Both of those (drainage) sub-basins come through the same area,” Stafford said. “Both were supposed to be included in the (federal American Rescue Plan Act) application, and (Ward 1 Councilwoman Ethel Stewart) would like to get in line to get those ditches cleaned.”

The area was originally included in the first phase of Waggoner Engineering’s drainage plan. Waggoner, which at the time was the city’s ARPA consultant, pitched a plan at a September work session that would have focused on an area of Northside around Columbus Brick, as well as the issues at College and 15th Street.

Waggoner later changed that plan, instead focusing just on Northside in parts of Wards 4 and 5. In January, the council voted to break ties with Waggoner, and in March it approved a Neel-Schaffer proposal to address ditch and culvert maintenance in the Brickyard area.

Stafford explained that some drainage work around the university had already been done, but more was needed.

“About 12 years ago we did a drainage upgrade program for MUW and replaced a lot of pipes on the south end of campus,” he said. “We basically stopped where campus ends, back where the tennis courts are on 11th Street. That’s where (the drainage ditch) crosses underneath the railroad tracks.”

The area “acts like a detention pond” when it rains heavily, Stafford said.

“All the water comes out of MUW and gets stacked up right there at Pohl Gymnasium and that parking lot until it can get under the railroad tracks,” he said. “From there, there’s a ditch (near Townsend Community Center) that hasn’t been cleaned in years.”

Back in 2001, the city applied for $4.2 million in Federal Emergency Management Agency Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities grant money to alleviate issues in the area. It would have replaced five culverts and line “natural” ditches with concrete. The city did not get the grant, so the work remained undone.

Vice Mayor Joseph Mickens asked how much the work now being proposed would help.

“The College and 15th area has been a problem for years,” Mickens said. “… If we do this right now, how much will it relieve the citizens there? Will it be a major improvement?”

Stafford said it would help “significantly.”

The city has set aside some $3 million of its ARPA allocation for drainage work and has applied for matching dollars from the state. The work would be contingent on that matching money being awarded, Stafford said.

Mickens said he thought the plan would help MUW’s curb appeal in addition to relieving nearby citizens.

“The W is a major part of the city,” Mickens said. “Kids come and visit the university before they go there, and we pray it don’t rain before they come to visit because if (it rains) they can’t go through there. If we can do something to help the W, I think we should do it.”

Brian Jones is the local government reporter for Columbus and Lowndes County.

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