Sullivan Run bridge project starting
For more than two decades, houses on West Brady Street in Butler have been flooded when rainfall accumulated in Sullivan Run.
John Evans, Butler's building code official, said he has been trying to get a Sullivan Run project completed for more than 25 years. On Monday, construction will finally begin to replace the approximately 20-foot West Brady Street bridge with a new one that will mitigate flooding.
The Sullivan Run Control Project costs $2.3 million in total, and will increase space for the stream water to run through to make flooding much less likely, Evans said. The replacement of the West Brady Street bridge is only one part of the project.
“They will replace the bridge with a concrete block culvert,” he said. “The current opening is too small, so they are going to put a new culvert in that has a larger opening.
“The goal and the objective here is to reduce the flood plain and reduce the frequency of flooding.”
This project will tentatively take eight to 12 weeks, according to Evans, and the road will be open only to residents of that block of West Brady Street.
Evans said Thomas Construction Inc. of Grove City is the contractor for the project, which is the same contractor that built the Centre City parking garage.
The city obtained $351,608 from the Butler County Infrastructure Bank for the project, and has forwarded $252,860 to the state to cover its share of the project cost.
Evans said the water in Sullivan Run builds up on West Brady Street because of the bridge's small culvert. He said once the project is done, frequent flooding will be a thing of the past.
“All the high-water events this past summer — once the Sullivan Run flood control project is completed — those more than likely wouldn't have happened,” Evans said.
