In previous years, Mission Road between 67th Street and Tomahawk Road in Prairie Village may very well have flooded during the torrential rains like the ones that dumped half a foot of water on parts of Johnson County Monday.
Mere months after the city wrapped up a years-long effort on construction along that key stretch of the roadway near the Shops of Prairie Village, a $4.4 million flood control project seems to have paid off.
The project was sparked by heavy flooding along that stretch of Mission Road, which runs parallel to Brush Creek, in the summer of 2017 that left homes along 68th Street inundated.
Prairie Village paid roughly $2 million for this project
- Johnson County’s stormwater management program paid for half of the flood control project, and Johnson County Wastewater made and paid for improvements separately.
- The work, which was mostly completed this past April, raised Mission Road between 67th Street and Tomahawk Road by nearly five feet.
- Prairie Village removed the parking lot associated with the small Schliffke Park, south of Village Presbyterian Church, as well.
- New retaining walls for Brush Creek along the impacted area were also included in the project. Restoration of the creek is ongoing.
- The project also brought new sidewalks to this part of the road.
City officials say improvements came through Monday
- Cliff Speegle, the city‘s senior project manager of stormwater, told the Post via email that “the channel performed well” during Monday’s intense downpour.
- During Monday’s city council meeting, Mayor Eric Mikkelson also said that the torrential rain on Monday “maxed” out the project “to the extent it hasn’t been tested before.”
- “I know some people had some challenges that we’re continuing to work through in homes and stuff, but the big flood control project was a success, saved a lot of homes some trouble today,” Mikkelson said.
- Mikkelson told the Post that he heard about water finding its way into some basements in other areas of the city but not in the vicinity of the Mission Road flood control project.
Go deeper: Downpour leads to flooding across Johnson County. How much rain was it?
