City gets federal funds for Motter Avenue flood mitigation
Credit: Frederick News-Post, Ryan Marshall
The city of Frederick, which faces millions of dollars worth of work to control the effects of flooding, will get nearly $535,000 for a Motter Avenue flood mitigation project from a federal funding bill signed Tuesday by President Joe Biden (D).
The $534,977 appropriation was included in the $1.5 trillion federal spending package Biden signed.
The funds will go toward one of five flood control projects in the city recommended by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers after a heavy rainstorm caused significant flooding in downtown Frederick and other parts of the city in May 2018.
In the Motter Avenue study area, the Army Corps has recommended a proposal that would add a 60-inch drainage line to run parallel to the existing 72-inch line, and add three inlets in the parking lot of the YMCA at 1000 N. Market St. That building suffered extensive damage in the May 2018 flood.
The Motter Avenue project is expected to cost $713,000, according to a briefing provided to the mayor and aldermen by the Army Corps in December 2020.
The funding for the project was announced Tuesday by the office of U.S. Rep. David Trone (D-Dist. 6).
Frederick Mayor Michael O’Connor (D) said Wednesday that the city appreciates the help it gets from its federal legislative delegation.
The spending bill signed Tuesday was the first in years to include individual spending projects identified by lawmakers, often known as earmarks.
O’Connor said the new process lets representatives identify projects in their districts that they think are worthwhile, and he was glad to see that lawmakers thought the Motter Avenue project was.
The other areas that were studied included Kline Avenue, Detrick Branch at North Market Street near Rosehill Manor, and a tributary to Carroll Creek at West Patrick Street, near Frederick middle and high schools.
In the Kline Boulevard area, the Army Corps recommends adding a new line from Fairview Avenue that would run beneath a parking lot for Frederick Middle School and empty into Carroll Creek. That project is estimated to cost $750,000.
The recommended option for the Detrick Branch project would replace an existing pipe under North Market Street with a pair of concrete box culverts at an estimated cost of $794,000.
In the fourth project, the Army Corps recommends replacing a 48-inch pipe with two concrete box culverts running under West Patrick Street and replacing an underground culvert that runs beneath the stands at Frederick High School’s football stadium with an open channel. That option would cost an estimated $851,000.
A separate plan for downtown Frederick is projected to cost more than $1.4 million.
