Storm water, road project to affect hundreds of Cole County residents

A major storm water and road project will soon impact hundreds of residents in Cole County.

Cole County Public Works held an open house for the project Wednesday.

The work will affect residents in the Crossroads, Rustic Oaks and Southtown Estates subdivisions.

The complete upgrade of storm water infrastructure and streets is set to begin next spring. The project could last until December 2017 or go into 2018, according to Cole County Engineer Eric Landwehr.

Residents agreed there are significant problems in the area that need to be addressed.

“Whenever the hard rains have come, it’s flooded over the top of the roads, you know, debris has went out in the road, that type of thing,” one Cole County resident who did not want to be identified said. “And there’s been some damage to the existing pipes as well.”

Landweher said many storm water pipes have rusted out or collapsed in the older neighborhood.

Public works crews will also add a detention basin to collect the large volume of storm water runoff.

Crews will upgrade all roads and make improvements to curbs and gutters.

The project is estimated to cost about $2 million to $2.5 million, according to Landwehr. It will all be funded through the county’s half cent capital improvement sales tax.