The City of Mexico was awarded two grants through the Department of Natural Resources for stormwater improvements within city limits. The grants are funded through the American Rescue Plan Act - Stormwater Infrastructure Grant.

“We have two different grants through the Department of Natural Resources,” says City Engineer Drew Williford. “One of these is a 21% match grant and one is a $1 match for $5 million worth of work.”

ARPA is a government funded grant which covers a broad scope of projects including but not limited to: dam removal projects, habitat restoration, repair or replacement of culverts, storm water recycling infrastructure as well as road repairs and upgrades that interact directly with stormwater infrastructure.

The Mexico City Council met twice regarding the upcoming construction, once in a regular open session on Monday, Dec. 9 and again in a special session with DNR to sign off on the allocation of the federal funding Thursday, Dec. 19.

“We were able to leverage about $700,000 of our money into an additional $7 million in order to do these projects,” says Bruce Slagle, city manager. “These are projects that are going to happen all over town, so there will be a lot of things torn up.”

During the planning for the grant application, there were a total of 11 locations selected for improvements. However, in order to keep project costs within budget, two projects were removed and others were combined. Williford presented the city council with a total of six projects for stormwater improvement.

The project locations will be at: Curtis and Love/Abat Streets, Pollock Rd. and Teal Lake Access Road, N. Calhoun St., E. Anderson St., N. Kentucky St., and N. Washington St.

The city council has budgeted for all of the proposed projects and needed to sign off on two resolutions, one for each grant, in order to proceed with construction.

“They are all covered in the 2024-2025 budget,” says Williford. “Some of this work will go past that, into the next fiscal year. All of that has been budgeted for.”

Upcoming Projects

Curtis St. and Love/Abat St.

This is a combined project, each funded separately by the two federal grants.

At Curtis St. there will be the construction of a new underground storm sewer system along with new curbs and gutters complete with a full resurfacing of the roadway.

The Love and Abat St. project will reconstruct the intersection and pipe the stormwater from that intersection northward toward Curtis St.

“All of these locations are going to have substantial improvements,” says Williford. “No longer will you see ditches along Curtis St. No longer will you have stormwater running in those ditches; it will be all underground.

Residents will have a sidewalk that stretches from the west end at Monroe to the east end at Wade. This will connect the area schools.

Pollock Rd. and Teal Lake Access Rd.

On Pollock Rd., by the MMA pond, is an upstream watershed which is a weight-limited structure which needs to be replaced.

The project will replace the existing structure with a precast box-culvert, repair four metal pipes near the Teal Lake access road which failed and then resurface the road after installation is complete.

“This is our only route to safely get to the largest dam to Mexico, the Teal Lake dam,” says Williford.

With its current weight limit and sloped conditions, there is no safe way to access the dam which is the primary reason this project was selected. Pollock Rd. will be closed during construction.

N. Calhoun St.

N. Calhoun St., from Love St. all the way to the town branch, is a very steep hill which creates a lot of erosion from storm water drainage.

The project will introduce new underground storm sewer pipes, curbs and gutters. This also includes the resurfacing of the road and the construction of a sidewalk.

E. Anderson St.
On E. Anderson St., there is a seepage problem causing the roadway to remain almost constantly wet.

“This was selected somewhat in relation to the Calhoun project to bring the general area near downtown up to more of a standard,” says Williford.

The project will introduce a new underground storm sewer pipe, curb and gutter along with inlets complete with a filtration system.

It is also worth noting that the empty lot to the west is where excess snow is stored. As that snow melts, the new stormwater infrastructure will allow for filtering which satisfies the city’s stormwater quality requirements by DNR.

N. Washington St.

This project will take place between Alison St. and W. Robinson St. and was chosen due to the hill and gravel shoulders.

“It does become a bit of a maintenance concern for us,” says Williford. "We have a storm sewer on that south end where the gravel drains and that gravel gets into the storm sewer system or out in the road.”

There will be a complete reworking of this stretch of road adding curb and gutter, curb inlets, and a sidewalk. The sanitary sewer system will have to be relocated as well.

N. Kentucky St.

As many Mexico Residents may have noticed, there are quite a few ditches along N. Kentucky St.

“This, along with the Curtis St. project will remove all of that and you will now have all underground storm sewers running through both locations,” says Williford.

The proposed project includes new curb and gutter, asphalt resurfacing, and sidewalk construction along the entire length of the project.

The deadline for completion is June 2026 though construction is to be expected to begin in March or April.