The recent harsh weather has delayed but not stopped work on a series of flood control projects in the Bridgeville portion of the McLaughlin Run watershed.

Bridgeville borough council at their Feb. 8 meeting approved two change orders to projects designed to mitigate flooding in McLaughlin Run while at the same time making improvements to McLaughlin Run Park.

One change order extended the contract completion date for the McLaughlin Run Park Improvements Project another 171 days.

The second order extended the completion date for the McLaughlin Run Park Flood Project another 124 days.

Bridgeville’s council launched the projects last year in an attempt to finally get a handle on flash flooding in McLaughlin Run.

The most recent flood occurred in June 2018, causing millions of dollars in damage to homes and businesses and resulting in the death of an Upper St. Clair woman who was swept into the raging water when her car became tangled in flood debris and she tried to walk home. Her body was found downstream in Bridgeville.

Since then, Bridgeville borough council has been working with county state and federal officials to find solutions to the problem.

Last year the state and Allegheny County funded the McLaughlin Run Park Flood Project with a $425,000 Gaming and Economic Development Fund grant, while the McLaughlin Run Park Improvements Project received a $209,000 state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources grant matched with $209,000 from the borough.

A key component of both grants is to re-engineer McLaughlin Run Park to serve as a buffer to help reduce flooding. Lowering the level of the park’s multipurpose ballfield 4 to 6 feet to the same level as the stream will enable flood waters to spill onto the field where they can be absorbed into the ground.

The ballfield will also serve as a catchment area for trees and other debris swept into the stream during heavy rainstorms.

A trash rack was installed in McLaughlin Run to intercept and deflect debris onto the ballfield where it can be later removed by the Bridgeville Public Works Department.

Over 1,200 truckloads of dirt and rock were removed last year from the field. It was then covered with top soil, reseeded and blanketed with straw.

In the spring the ballfield will be restored to its original condition for use by local athletic teams.

Other improvements to the park include new fencing, landscaping, a decorative entrance gate and other small improvements. This work, funded by the borough and state DCNR grant, is slated to begin in the spring.

Bridgeville borough manager Joe Kauer pointed out the complexity of solving the flooding problem.

“There is not one simple solution to this historic challenge that has had lasting effects on generations of Bridgeville citizens for over a century; however, many small and large projects will be undertaken to address it,” he wrote in a report earlier this year.

Among those projects is an emphasis on dredging and clearing McLaughlin Run of debris. Bridgeville Public Works crews have removed thousands of tons of sediment from culvert tunnels and the main channel to improve water flow in the channel.

In the spring public works crews will remove sediment from the back channel of Chartiers Creek near the Chartiers Valley Shopping Center at the confluences of McLaughlin Run and Painters Run to allow more water to flow into the back channel, reducing water levels in the two tributary streams during extreme rainstorms.

As part of a separate $100,000 Gaming and Economic Development Fund grant, Jet Jack Inc. received an $89,860 contract from the borough to install additional storm sewers and catch basins at the intersection of Union Street and Bower Hill Road where homes have historically flooded.

The borough also awarded a contract from the $425,000 McLaughlin Run Park Flood Control grant to Brex Enterprises for $106,811 to build a boat-style access ramp into McLaughlin Run behind the Beer Warehouse on Railroad Street. The ramp will allow Bridgeville public works crews to remove debris that becomes lodged in front of the Bower Hill Bridge and the Commercial Street culverts before flooding occurs.

The project includes building a wall across the ramp to help keep water overflowing from the channel and installing backflow preventers on the storm sewer outfalls to prevent water from backing up onto Baldwin Street.

The report also outlines ongoing planning for demolition of 11 flood prone structures on Baldwin and Margaret streets.

Finding a permanent solution to McLaughlin Run flooding is complicated by ongoing development in Bethel Park and especially Upper St. Clair. Both communities are upstream of Bridgeville and most of the new development continues to add more stormwater runoff to McLaughlin Run where it impacts Bridgeville the hardest.

Borough engineer Kevin Brett is studying computer models to reduce future flooding.

The borough planning commission has reviewed preliminary plans based on those models to construct levies and pumps along Carol Avenue, Baldwin Street and McLaughlin Run Road. The plans also call for the replacement and new design of the Bower Hill Road and Baldwin Street bridges to allow more rapid flow of water through the channel.

The borough engineer estimates these projects will cost between $21 million and $23 million.

Bob Podurgiel, freelance writer: suburbanliving@post-gazette.com

First Published: February 18, 2021, 9:52 p.m.