PETERSBURG, Va. β Petersburg city leaders say the historic city needs significant infrastructure upgrades totaling $1 billion. Millions in grant money has been and continues to be used to address some of those needs, especially for preventing flooding.
A damaged bridge on Wythe Street has been reduced to one lane for several months, affecting local businesses and contributing to flooding issues in the area.
"Yes, it's affecting us," Jennifer Moore of Glenn's Body Shop said. "People don't know where to turn in."
Moore was seen cleaning up paperwork that had been damaged during a flood on July 15.
"We let it dry out due to the fact of the flood," Moore said.
The business had never experienced flooding before, despite being in the same location for 35 years.
The bridge damage occurred during intense summer storms that brought unprecedented flooding to the area.
"There's flooding in the area and as you know, we had a run in July with two 100-year storms back to back and a 500-year storm," Petersburg City Manager March Altman said.
The damage underneath the bridge prompted officials to block the north side lane for safety reasons.
"We will keep it closed until we have a solution and a construction project to finish and complete and fix the bridge," Altman said.
The estimated repair cost is $11 million. Part of the fix includes raising the bridge deck above flood level. City officials say this location is one of several choke points for stormwater, so the repair project will also work to improve drainage flow.
A major part of helping the water move through the city and out to the river is already in progress, funded by a grant the city has secured.
"We have DCR grant funding to take some of the silt from our outfall openings at the river, remove that silt," Altman said.
According to Altman, removing the silt should provide relief upstream where water tends to back up. However, several other stormwater choke points still need to be addressed.
"We've been working on a citywide drainage study for the past couple of years. We have funding for it. The downtown portion has been completed," Altman said.
In the coming weeks, city officials will meet with the Corps of Engineers to discuss dredging the Appomattox River, which they believe will help move stormwater out of the city and prevent flooding on multiple city streets.
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