Three Baytown drainage projects are on the county's 2018 flood bond list

In August 2018, Harris County voters approved $2.5 billion in bonds for flood damage reduction. The Harris County Flood Control District lists three drainage projects in Baytown that are partnerships with the City of Baytown, one of them also with Goose Creek CISD. The district's project pages describe what each will do. They do not publish a cost, a schedule or a status, so the answer to "when does my street get fixed" has to come from the district or the city. How to ask is at the end.

The short version

• On August 25, 2018, Harris County voters approved $2.5 billion in bonds to finance flood damage reduction projects.
• The district lists a South Main storm sewer, West Texas Avenue drainage work, and a school district partnership project in the Spring Gully and Goose Creek watershed.
• The three project pages describe scope only. For status, schedule or cost, ask the district or the City of Baytown.

Where the money comes from

The Harris County Flood Control District is the county agency that builds and maintains the channels, basins and ditches that carry rain out of neighborhoods. On August 25, 2018, Harris County voters approved $2.5 billion in bonds to finance flood damage reduction projects. The district says partnerships with federal and state agencies, local communities and private interests play a vital role in funding many of its projects.

Baytown shows up in two of the district's watershed areas. A watershed is simply the land that drains into one set of creeks. The Spring Gully and Goose Creek watershed covers 32 square miles in east Harris County. The district counts 66,099 people living in it, based on the 2020 Census, and 60 miles of open streams, including Spring Gully and Goose Creek. The Cedar Bayou watershed is bigger: 202 square miles, with 42,912 people in the Harris County part. It has 128 miles of open stream. Baytown and Mont Belvieu both sit in it.

The district's Goose Creek watershed summary page lists channel work along Goose Creek (project F-120) and the three Baytown partnership projects below.

South Main storm drain

The district's page is titled "Z-02 City of Baytown South Main Storm Drain Improvements" (Z-02 is a code in the title), with the ID number O101-01-00-E001. It describes a partnership with the City of Baytown to "design, acquire right-of-way and construct the South Main storm sewer from West Texas Avenue to East Republic Street." The work sits in both the Goose Creek and Cedar Bayou watersheds. The stated goal is to reduce area structural flooding. The page also says the City of Baytown is taking the lead.

A storm sewer is an underground pipe that takes rain from street inlets and carries it away. When the pipe is too small, or there is not enough of it, water has nowhere to go and backs up in the street. "Structural flooding" is the district's term for water that reaches buildings, not just the road.

The stretch is South Main from West Texas Avenue to East Republic Street. The page says the work covers design, buying land (right-of-way) and construction.

West Texas Avenue drainage

The second page is titled "Z-02 City of Baytown West Texas Avenue Drainage Improvements," with the ID O101-00-00-G001. It describes "a partnership project for drainage improvements to the West Texas Avenue area" between the district and the City of Baytown, in the Spring Gully and Goose Creek watershed.

The page names the West Texas Avenue area. It does not list start and end points or pipe sizes.

South Main begins at West Texas Avenue, so the two projects meet at the same road. If your street is near that crossing, both are worth watching.

The school district partnership

The third listing is a partnership with the City of Baytown and Goose Creek Consolidated Independent School District, ID O101-00-00-E002. The district describes it as "a drainage improvement project in the Spring Gully / Goose Creek Watershed."

The page gives no more than that. It names three partners: the district, the city and the school district. It does not name a street or a school site.

One detail for anyone who looks these up: the Goose Creek watershed summary page lists this project as O101-01-00-E002, while the project page itself says O101-00-00-E002. This story uses the number on the project page.

Related Baytown listings

Two other Baytown items appear in the district's lists.

• A partnership with the City of Baytown to acquire right-of-way for the proposed Cedar Bayou Lynchburg Sub-Regional Stormwater Detention Basin, ID O100-00-00-R002. The district describes stormwater detention basins as features that store excess stormwater and slowly release it back to the bayou when the threat of flooding has passed.
• On the Cedar Bayou watershed page, a project called Danubina and East James Area Drainage Improvements at Hull Gully.

Our earlier story on flood risk by the numbers covers how often flooding has happened here and what insurance claims show.

Where to look

• The project pages are on the Harris County Flood Control District website under the ID numbers above.
• The Goose Creek watershed summary page lists all three projects in one place.
• For current status, the project pages point to the district's General Inquiries page and to a sign-up for news about Spring Gully and Goose Creek projects. Use those, and ask the City of Baytown, which leads the South Main work, for its drainage schedule.
• These are 2018 bond projects, so some may be further along than the district's pages show. Ask before you assume.

Sources

• Harris County Flood Control District, Spring Gully & Goose Creek watershed (https://www.hcfcd.org/Activity/Projects/Spring-Gully-Goose-Creek)
• Harris County Flood Control District, Goose Creek watershed projects summary (https://www.hcfcd.org/Goose-Creek-WFS)
• Harris County Flood Control District, Z-02 South Main Storm Drain Improvements, O101-01-00-E001 (https://www.hcfcd.org/O101-01-00-E001)
• Harris County Flood Control District, Z-02 West Texas Avenue Drainage Improvements, O101-00-00-G001 (https://www.hcfcd.org/O101-00-00-G001)
• Harris County Flood Control District, partnership project with the City of Baytown and Goose Creek CISD (https://www.hcfcd.org/O101-01-00-E002)
• Harris County Flood Control District, Cedar Bayou Lynchburg Stormwater Detention Basin land partnership, O100-00-00-R002 (https://www.hcfcd.org/O100-00-00-R002)
• Harris County Flood Control District, Cedar Bayou watershed (https://www.hcfcd.org/Activity/Projects/Cedar-Bayou)
• Harris County Flood Control District, 2018 Bond Program (https://www.hcfcd.org/Activity/Flood-Bond-Program)

En español

Tres proyectos de drenaje de Baytown están en la lista de bonos de inundación de 2018 del condado

El 25 de agosto de 2018, los votantes del condado de Harris aprobaron $2.5 mil millones en bonos para financiar proyectos de reducción de daños por inundaciones. El Distrito de Control de Inundaciones del Condado de Harris enumera tres proyectos de drenaje en Baytown que son alianzas con la Ciudad de Baytown, y uno también con el distrito escolar Goose Creek CISD. Las páginas del distrito describen el alcance de cada proyecto, pero no publican costo, calendario ni estado. Para saber cuándo le toca a su calle, hay que preguntar al distrito o a la ciudad.

Los tres proyectos

• Drenaje pluvial de South Main: la alianza con la ciudad es para diseñar, adquirir el derecho de paso y construir el alcantarillado pluvial de South Main, desde West Texas Avenue hasta East Republic Street. La ciudad lleva la dirección. La meta es reducir las inundaciones que llegan a los edificios. El código del proyecto es O101-01-00-E001.
• Drenaje de West Texas Avenue: una mejora de drenaje en el área de West Texas Avenue, en la cuenca de Spring Gully y Goose Creek (O101-00-00-G001). La página no da puntos de inicio y fin ni tamaños de tubería. South Main empieza en West Texas Avenue, así que los dos proyectos se cruzan en la misma calle.
• Proyecto con el distrito escolar: una mejora de drenaje en la cuenca de Spring Gully y Goose Creek, con la ciudad y Goose Creek CISD como socios (O101-00-00-E002). La página no nombra calle ni escuela.

Otros proyectos de Baytown

Hay también una alianza con la ciudad para adquirir el derecho de paso de la cuenca de detención propuesta de Cedar Bayou en Lynchburg (O100-00-00-R002), y un proyecto de drenaje en Danubina y East James en Hull Gully, en la cuenca de Cedar Bayou. Una cuenca de detención guarda el exceso de agua de lluvia y la suelta despacio hacia el bayou cuando pasa el peligro.

Cómo averiguar el estado

Las páginas de cada proyecto están en el sitio del distrito, con los números de identificación de este artículo, y remiten a la página de consultas generales del distrito y a un registro para recibir noticias de los proyectos de Spring Gully y Goose Creek. Usted también puede preguntar a la Ciudad de Baytown, que lleva el proyecto de South Main. Son proyectos de los bonos de 2018, así que algunos pueden ir más adelantados de lo que muestran las páginas.