Cleanout begins along nearly 15 miles of Plum Creek Drain
The Plum Creek Drain is being cleaned out for the first time in nearly three decades in a process that's expected to run through next fall.
Crews with Ann Arbor-based Chevrette Gradall Service have already begun dredging and removing stone from the nearly 15-mile drain. Monroe County Drain Commissioner David Thompson said that it is a standard industry practice to give a contractor about a year to complete a project of this scale so that they can arrange it around other projects that they may be working on simultaneously. Thompson said this practice also typically keeps the overall cost of the project down.
"We give them a little more flexibility in the contract so that they can line jobs up, and we typically get a better price," he said. "We're always looking to save money... They still have to do a job and try to be efficient and cost effective as possible. We try to set everybody up for success and get the project completed for (lowest) possible dollar cost."
Thompson said that the project is a fairly standard one for his office, with the exception of removing some of the rock work that makes up the drain. The hope is that removing some of this rock will help alleviate the persistent flooding issues that affect multiple neighborhoods situated near the drain.
"We had to go to the state, and we almost had to go to the federal government to get a permit to remove any of the rock channel," Thompson explained. "That slowed us down six-to-nine months, then COVID happened. It's just been a whole bunch of stuff."
As is the norm for a cleanout such as this one, brush and trees that are removed from the Plum Creek Drain will be left on the banks of the property from which they belong to be disposed of by the property owner. Thompson said this is also done to keep the cost of the project down, as a contractor would charge more to have to haul the debris away after they've removed it from the drain.
"We try to keep it fair," he said. "If (the property owner) let it grow wild, they're going to get a mess. If they kept it clean, it shouldn’t be as bad."
Thompson says that every drain is unique, which is another reason why there's not a definitive end date for the Plum Creek Drain cleanout. The drain runs through both rural and urban environments, and that combined with the stone removal will make it slightly more challenging than other, similar projects.
"It's been almost 30 years since it was last cleaned," Thompson said. "So it's certainly due."
This article originally appeared on The Monroe News: Cleanout begins along nearly 15 miles of Plum Creek Drain
