Resident says I-140 connector construction causing drainage concerns

OGDEN, NC (WWAY) — The I-140 connector to Market Street runs straight through the Courtney Pines neighborhood in Ogden.

John Holt, a resident in the neighborhood, lost half of his backyard to make room for the highway. Though not ideal to have noisy construction happening so close to his home, Holt says that’s not his problem.

“I’m grateful that they’re putting this road in here, we really need it. It’s going to help a lot,” Holt said.

The elevation of the road is higher than Holt’s home, so when it rains he says water flows down from the construction site into his backyard, through the front yard, into the streets, and into the neighborhood’s drainage system.

After the first few times, Holt says a barrier was installed to help reduce the drainage but the problems persist.

“What’s their game plan with this water? We shouldn’t have this water draining into people’s homes, people’s property,” Holt said.

Holt notes the neighborhood is no stranger to flooding but says this is different.

“Basically the water was backing up from the drainage system into the roads and coming into people’s driveways. Now we have water and mud draining off of this,” Holt said.

Pointing out that other neighbors are likely faced with similar issues, Holt hopes to hear from someone who can address the problems because it was never made clear to him who to reach out to when they arise.

“Who is managing the site? We shouldn’t be waiting for something to go wrong before we have somebody step up to fix it after the fact,” Holt said.

After WWAY shared the concerns with NCDOT on Wednesday, they investigated the site the same day.

“The N.C. Department of Transportation went to the area of concern, [address], on Feb. 10, 2021,” NCDOT Spokesperson Lauren Haviland said. “Upon our field investigation, there was no standing water at this location, so the area has positive drainage. We will continue to monitor this location to see if additional measures need to take place.”

Additionally providing information on guidelines surrounding drainage issues.

NORTH CAROLINA DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION GUIDELINES FOR DRAINAGE STUDIES AND HYDRAULIC DESIGN states the following in section 2.4.4, titled Improvements and Maintenance of Drainage outside the Right-of-Way:

“While it is the responsibility of NCDOT to provide adequate drainage for constructing and maintaining the State Highway System, it is not its policy nor responsibility to provide improved drainage for the general area traversed by such roads, unless incidental to the drainage of the road or highway itself. Drainage involvement outside the highway rights-of-way is limited to two general areas of justification:
• Sufficient benefit could be gained by such action to warrant the cost. These benefits would be in such areas as reduction in roadway flood frequency or extent, facilitation of maintenance, or a reduction in potential damages.
• Work is required to correct a problem or condition created by some action of NCDOT.

It is not the responsibility of NCDOT to eliminate flooding on private property that is not attributable to acts of the agency or its representative.”