National Guard Helps Install Secondary Dam, Bridge Replacement Begins

Raw sewage is now unlikely to flow into the White River, and efforts to replace Carmel's Hazel Dell Parkway bridge begin.

A group of rescue workers in red and blue uniforms standing in a river surrounded by debris and vegetation. — Source: City of Carmel

CARMEL, Ind. — A wastewater main was at risk of breaking and leaking raw sewage into the White River after historic flooding swept through Indiana, including Hamilton County.

Carmel Engineering Director Bradley Pease said earlier this week there was a 90% chance that the city’s main sanitary pipe would burst.

“We’ve totally flipped that,” Pease said in a Wednesday press conference. “It’s a 90% chance it will not breach that sanitary pipe.”

The National Guard used Black Hawk helicopters and dropped over 70 bags of sand weighing 2,000 pounds each along the creek bed to build a second dam.

This comes after the city built a first dam earlier this week out of sycamore trees and concrete near the Martin Marietta quarry.

Pease called the operation a “100% success,” adding the National Guard built a “beautiful dam.”

Hamilton County Commissioner Christine Altman confirmed earlier this week the Hazel Dell Parkway bridge will need a replacement and is considered Carmel’s largest infrastructure loss.

“We have retained United Consulting to work on the bridge redesign,” Altman said Wednesday. “They’re actively progressing and meeting with the Indiana Department of Environmental Management, the Army Corps of Engineers, and the Indiana Department of Natural Resources. Also, the governor has signed an executive order that is speeding up the permitting process, not only for us, but for the residents that will need to have any type of permits in the flood-affected areas.”

Altman thinks county officials have “devised a plan” to remove the debris expected to fill the water. Afterwards, they will put the project out to bid and award contracts for the reconstruction of the bridge.

“We did explore a temporary bridge solution to open up at least two lanes,” she added. “It is not only cost-prohibitive, but unfortunately, it would cause significant delays to our ultimate fix of that project.”

Altman added she is “close to having a contract to sign” that would organize the disposal of debris, and that she is looking to ask the Federal Emergency Management Agency for damage reimbursement.

Carmel Mayor Sue Finkam says 41 of the 215 homes affected by power outages remain without power.

National Guard Helps Install Secondary Dam, Bridge Replacement Begins was originally published on wibc.com