Stormy weather always worries residents of East Dallas where a massive stormwater project to relieve flooding won’t be finished for another two years.
Work on the Mill Creek Peaks Branch Tunnel began in 2018.
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WATCH HERESeveral access points are under construction in East Dallas and Uptown.
Construction covers were removed Thursday from some stormwater inlets that will eventually connect to the deep tunnel. Sandbags were in place to keep the covers from washing back over the drains. That may have been a factor in flooding that occurred in a massive August 2022 rain event.
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SIGN UP It left 15 inches of rain in some places that had never seen so much flooding before.
Homes and businesses in East Dallas and around Fair Park were swamped.
The giant boring machine that carved out the tunnel has finished that job and has been removed from the tunnel.
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The walls and access shafts must now be lined with concrete before the surface drains can be connected to the tunnel.
Completion is not expected until 2025.
The 2022 rain came sooner.
Dallas Utilities officials who also oversee storm drainage are developing a 10-year work plan that could add more smaller projects to improve Dallas stormwater management.
A 2024 public improvement bond referendum being crafted by the city now could include some of those additional projects.
