SANTA ROSA — For as long as anyone can remember, when heavy rains hit the southwest side of town it floods.
But all that is going to change.
On Monday, the city of Santa Rosa held a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the Southwest Outfall Project, which will improve drainage in the neighborhood of Jesus T. Avila Avenue.
“This is a much-needed drainage project to alleviate flooding in a couple of areas in town,” Mayor Andres Contreras said.
The drainage project runs a quarter of a mile and connects to the canal running south into Tio Cano Road.
Water collected in the area will now flow toward the drainage ditch on the west side of the nearby canal, helping with future flooding.
Contreras said the project is complete and the cost was close to $300,000 to build.
The project was funded by the Texas General Land Office of the State of Texas to provide for disaster recovery and restoration of infrastructure for communities impacted by Hurricane Dolly in 2008.
Contreras said the city received the funds for the drainage project in 2013, the administration took time to work together to identify where to use the funds to make the most impact.
Funds were allocated by the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development through the Community Development Block Grant.
Contreras said anytime the city can use funding they are more than happy to take advantage of it.
“We don’t want to burden the community by using money out of the general fund,” Contreras said.
He said the project also paid to pave the road.
The new street paving also took place in the area along with neighborhood ditch improvements.
“Projects of this magnitude may seem small to many, but I am always proud to see such improvements take shape in our community,” said Jaime Quiroga, Santa Rosa alderman.
