$4M could help bottle up Broad Meadow Brook.

• Position: LOCAL NEWS

Byline: Nick Kotsopoulos

WORCESTER - A consultant has recommended that part of Broad Meadow Brook be dredged and a relief surface sewer be constructed to deal with flooding that often occurs in the Brightwood Avenue/Greenfield Street neighborhood during heavy rainstorms.

The total cost of the recommended improvements is $3.97 million.

Camp Dresser & McKee was hired by the city to determine the causes of the flooding, after significant flooding in the Brightwood Avenue area following an intense rainstorm in August.

Robert L. Moylan Jr., commissioner of public works and parks, said the conclusions reached by CDM indicate that the drainage infrastructure in that area is "substantially undersized" to handle heavy rain.

"More specifically, CDM determined that the drainage system cannot accommodate a storm larger than a three-month rain event without experiencing some degree of system surcharging," Mr. Moylan wrote in a report.

In addition, the consultant found that sediment accumulation in Broad Meadow Brook is blocking almost half of the outlet of a 60-inch-diameter drain on Dunkirk Avenue. That sediment is further restricting the hydraulic capacity of the drainage system.

To reduce the likelihood of flooding in the neighborhood, the consultant recommends installing new 36- and 54-inch relief drains parallel to the existing 39-inch drains in Firth Street, Brightwood Avenue and Greenfield Street...