Mayor Wilder today announced the completion of Phase I of infrastructure upgrades in Shockoe Bottom.

From the city’s press release from the event:

Whereas before the system could only handle a small amount of intense rain before causing flooding, it can now handle a 25 year storm event (or about 3″ of rain in an hour).

The $5.3 million Phase I was completed in December, two weeks ahead of schedule and $1.7 million under budget (32 percent).

[City Dept. of Public Utilities Director Chris Beschler] also explains what comes next in Phase II that will protect the Shockoe area from a 50-year storm event. That phase will be undertaken this year and completed in January 2009.

Phase II will make further capacity and environmental improvements and include a $4.6 million grant from the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality that will enable the system to handle storm water and sewer water simultaneously and send it to the City’s wastewater treatment plant without being an environmental hazard to the James River.

Other Notes: The City built 93 new Drop Inlets throughout the Shockoe Bottom area to replace the older, smaller, and poorly positioned drop inlets that were unable to properly drain the area during heavy rain events (see Page 3 of attachment).

See also: slides and info