City Drainage Project Will Eliminate Storm Flooding

Construction began in February on a master drainage facility that will alleviate a flooding problem in Murrieta.

Redirecting storm water to flow underneath Madison and Jefferson avenues south of Murrieta Hot Springs Road will also make downstream land parcels easier to develop, city officials said.

Murrieta City Council is expected to vote Tuesday on acquiring the last piece of the puzzle to make the project known as the Lines D and D1 Realignment a success. Once approved, the city can assume control of the Murrieta Creek MDP Line 1 drainage facility behind Walmart currently managed by the Riverside County Flood Control District.

The property on which the 10-foot x 7-foot, 337-linear-feet concrete box culvert now sits belongs to the Murrieta Housing Authority, the successor agency of the Murrieta Redevelopment Agency. The culvert will be realigned and extended to merge with the city’s improved line, according to a city staff report.

The city capital improvement project will eliminate flooding these streets experience during relatively small storm events, the report stated.

“This is vital for north south routes for emergency vehicles, commerce and creating secondary routes should the I-15 freeway become impassible,” Bill Woolsey, a civil engineer associate on the project, wrote in the report.

The $3.6-million project was awarded in December 2011 to Menifee-based Bedon Construction and is slated for a November completion.

The next step in the city’s flood-control efforts in the area would be the construction of the Guava Street Bridge west of Jefferson Avenue. A boxed drainage line would flow under the bridge. Engineering and design work for that project is continuing, according to city documents.