Progress

10th St 3 months ago:

Coffee Creek over it's banks and the road

Rapids on the flattest street in our neighborhood

Under the waterfall is our water main and a sewer line

10th St now:

Looking upstream: quite the overflow culvert. Pipe on the right does not line up, wondering how they will fix that.

Looking downstream

Coffee Creek:

If you look very closely you can see the creek, just above the black cloth.

Knowing that we had much less damage then most neighborhoods in Duluth I wasn't too concerned about the delay in repairs until I noticed that 10th St. was no longer listed on the "closed streets" on the City's website. Hmm. I sent a quick email off to the head of Public Works to check on the status. Apparently in the past few years Coffee Creek was designated a trout stream which meant that the DNR was now also involved in the decision regarding repair of this road.   This in addition to documenting damage for FEMA meant delays. I was even told at one point that we had "alternate routes" into the neighborhood so there was some talk of not repairing the road at all! 

I live in one of the older neighborhoods in Duluth (100+ years). Anyone who has been here knows that our alternate routes are quite steep (I live one block from the 3rd steepest street in Duluth). 10th St is the only route into the neighborhood when the roads are icy and/or snow-covered. Needless to say, I fired off an email to explain my views on the need for this repair, including that our water main was currently suspended in midair - not a sustainable plan during a Duluth winter. 

As you can see, the decision was made to make the repair - and to get it done before the really cold weather hits. 

P.S. While this has been an exceptionally dry year (other than the flood event) that is the typical flow for Coffee Creek at the end of the summer. It is a "flashy" stream and rarely has much water in it except during spring runoff and after a significant storm.