FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WPTA) – City Utilities held a groundbreaking ceremony on Monday for Phase II of its multiphase stormwater improvement project.
The project aims to reduce chronic flooding and protect habitats in the Lincolndale Drain corridor, in the Spy Run Creek and St. Marys River watershed. The corridor begins in a residential neighborhood and flows through wooded, commercial and industrial areas.
The project’s second phase will take place in the flood-prone Interstate Industrial Park off W Coliseum Boulevard, between Executive Boulevard and Investment Drive.
City Utilities says crews will create a two-acre wetland and restore 740 feet of the drain during this phase, increasing stormwater storage and improving flow.
- Reconstruct an existing detention basin.
- Restore and stabilize 740 feet of streambank.
- Plant 40 native trees and 60 native shrubs.
- Establish native wetland and erosion-control vegetation.
- Create two acres of pollinator habitat; and
- Add rock cross vanes and stone cobbles to improve aquatic habitat.
Once work is done, the project is projected to prevent more than 350 pounds of phosphorus and 100 tons of sediment from entering local waterways annually. City Utilities says the wetland vegetation will slow and filter stormwater before it reaches primary waterways…