Drainage project details outlined for concerned Stonegate-area residents in Port Arthur
Published 12:30 am Saturday, April 27, 2024
Work to add additional drainage to the Stonegate area is ongoing. (Mary Meaux)
Emanuel and Jessie Preston listen to the presentation on the Stonegate Drainage Improvement Project Thursday at the Port Arthur Public Health Facility. (Mary Meaux/The News)
Golfers are seen in the shadows of heavy machinery along Jimmy Johnson Boulevard. (Mary Meaux/The News)
Orlando Ciramella signs the check-in sheet prior to the meeting. (Mary Meaux/The News)
Traffic on Jimmy Johnson Boulevard near Golfhill Drive is down to two lanes. (Mary Meaux/The News)
Lawrence Baker motions with his hand while asking questions about the project. (Mary Meaux/The News)
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Residents in the golf course area are feeling the impacts of the city’s multi-million dollar project to enhance the capacity of the drainage system.
Approximately 50 residents in the area attended a community meeting this week with city officials and representatives of Brystar Contracting Inc. to have their questions answered about the Stonegate Drainage Improvement Project.
Hani Tohme, consultant to the city manager, brought the crowd back to 2017 and the impacts of Hurricane Harvey, where boats moved up and down the Stonegate area rescuing stranded individuals.
The drainage improvement project includes adding larger structures capable of handling an increased water flow.
Reinforced concrete boxes would be added that can take the water from Jimmy Johnson Boulevard to the babe Zaharias Golf Course and from there it will be pumped to the Drainage District ditch behind Waffle House on Jimmy Johnson Boulevard.
“The best thing about this project is that after Drainage District 7 built their pump station, they have the ability to lower the level of water in all of these ditches to almost minus two,” Tohme said. “So that gives us the ability to transfer a lot more water to that ditch.”
The $17.8 million project is possible though federal funding by a Hazard Mitigation Grant Program and the Community Development-Block Grant-Disaster recovery funds.
Bryan Phelps, president of Brystar Contracting, said there are a few traffic control setups to be used during the estimated 18-month project.
“The one we have in place currently is to allow us to get the box culverts from the (golf course) ponds over to the middle of Jimmy Johnson Boulevard, where they’re being installed,” Phelps said. “But that’s not what it will be permanently throughout project. There will come a point in time and the projects that will end up with a traffic control situation where you’ve got to two outside lanes.”
This will be in place for a portion of the project, then it will switch back to the current pattern for concrete replacement.
The biggest impact will be on Golfhill Drive.
Lawrence Baker, who is retired from the City of Port Arthur and a resident on Golfhill Drive, asked for specifics on the impact.
The reason — one lane traffic, Phelps said.
The scope of work requires a box culvert on the south side of the road, and once that is down, they will go approximately 650 feet from the intersection and tie the line back to the existing storm sewer on Golfhill.
Access to driveways for residents of Golfhill will be impacted, as well.
“Our efforts are to put temporary drives back, as we’re progressing with the storm sewer and try to stop at the end of the day with the storm sewer work with the actual trench in between driveways,” Phelps said. “So in a perfect world we get a flash flood at noon, thunderstorm, we shut down and we’re in the middle of your driveway. We’ll do the best we can.”
Trash pickup was also a topic of discussion to which Tohme said they will have a plan established to handle the issue and will communicate with the residents in advance.
Local developer Faddhi Aref worried about access to his business along Jimmy Johnson Boulevard and what will be done in the long-term for what is a very busy street.
There will be some inconvenience, Tohme answered, but there is a possible solution that will go before city council for approval — the addition of a fifth lane. Tohme said the change would be within budget.
While the meeting commenced, Emanuel Preston sat with pen and notebook and took notes as wife Jessie listened.
The couple lives closer to the 9th Avenue portion of the project and wondered how the project would impact traffic in their area.
After listening to the comments, the Prestons are now going to use Lake Arthur Drive instead of Jimmy Johnson Boulevard.
Brystar and city leaders are promising transparency in the process and will be holding periodic meetings to update residents, as well as using email and text messages.
Rumors regarding The Babe golf course were also addressed. The course will not close and will not drop to 9 holes, officials said.
