City engineer says Northwest Drainage Improvements Project may be complete in August, weather-permitting

LUBBOCK, Texas (KCBD) - The Northwest Drainage Improvements Project has moved to phase 3 and City Engineer Mike Keenum says completion should be done in August, which will alleviate flooding in the Lubbock area where North Loop and West Loop come together and some surrounding spots.

Pipe installations are in the works for playa lakes at four spots: the first near 4th Street and Frankford Ave. and then continuing a little east. Then, close by at Higginbotham Park near 19th Street and Slide Avenue. Third, at 4th Street and Indiana Avenue and also at 4th Street and Quaker.

Keenum says the huge project is to help playa lakes efficiently drain any water that comes into them. Mike says the pipes have very wide diameters underneath the lakes and they run under roads and other surfaces to make their way to other bigger lakes outside of the loop where the water is handed off. Above-surface structures attached to the playa lakes with slots also help the water get to pipes underground.

Keenum says many other playa lakes in Lubbock have similar pipes systems such as at Maxey Park near Covenant Health hospitals and at Miller Park near the South Loop.

“They’re solely funded by stormwater rates, not tax rate or anything else,” said Keenum.

Keenum says these projects are important to the citizens living in neighborhoods that want to reduce flooded driving areas and walkways.

“And so as we understand that better with the hydrology and the hydraulics of the rainfall runoff, how that all functions, we’ve been able to go back in and retrofit some of these to help alleviate the risk of flooding in those neighborhoods.”

“Yeah, and so you know, the project is scheduled to be completed in August of this year. And so, that’s weather dependent, you know, things happen, and we get some a lot of rain, and that might delay the project completion a little bit.”