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Date: 11/9/2023
AGAWAM — The Agawam Department of Public Works is underway with fixing the drainage problems on Meadow Street, said Superintendent Mario Mazza.
Mazza describes draining as a “chronic problem forever,” going on for at least 20 years. When the street was being built, he said, the pipes used were too small. This results in flooding when it rains. The more rain, the more flooding.
“The capacity is not what it should be for heavier storms,” he said.
The DPW has tried other solutions in the past, such as cleaning the catch basins more frequently. Even working at peak condition, Mazza said, the pipes still don’t have the capacity to handle a lot of rainwater.
Mazza said the water itself is not dangerous. Danger comes when introducing pedestrian traffic or motor vehicles. Flooding stays on the street, trapping residents in their homes and preventing access to other roads. Cars can also be stuck in it, leading to costly repairs. Flood water can also leak into basements; the cost to mitigate that is also not cheap.
The DPW has received tons of complaints about this, Mazza said. He estimates that 50 to 100 homes are on Meadow Street, alongside a condo complex with business offices in the back. He estimates that approximately 400 to 500 people are affected by this.
As the city received ARPA funds — federal aid from the American Rescue Plan Act, a coronavirus relief bill passed by Congress in 2021 — it decided to take on this problem. Officially titled the Meadow Street Drainage Improvements and Water Main Replacement Project, the project began in spring 2023 and will extend into next summer.
Right now, the city is installing a larger pipe that will handle the rain. The pipe will be located underneath the parking lot of the Regency Park Condominium complex. It will connect to a pipe underneath the property behind it, owned by Pine Ridge. From there, the water will flow to the Westfield River. This phase of the project should be complete in December, if the weather holds out and there are no delays.
The DPW has already installed a new water main — the main water-distributing pipe. Mazza described the old one as “fairly old” and starting to break. While it wasn’t necessary to do, Mazza said it’s best practice to make multiple repairs at once, so that the ground won’t need to be dug up again for a while.
To finish off the project, the DPW plans to repave Meadow Street. This will be done next summer, Mazza said, once the road has had time to settle.
The project, including the road repaving, will cost around $3.5 million. Approximately $2 million will go to material costs, while the rest is going to labor and equipment. All of the costs will be covered by ARPA funds.
Mazza said there’s nothing residents of Meadow Street can do on a home-by-home basis to mitigate the flooding. He said there have been traffic delays and times where they’d have to shut off the water. He said residents have remained positive, and he appreciates that. He asks residents for their patience while work is being done.