PARMA, Ohio — After several years of flooding, property damage, and closures, residents in Parma are finally getting some assistance.
The Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District is working on a major fix along Sprague Road.
It's focused on stopping flooding once and for all.
Neighbors say this was a long time coming.
"It should've been done 10 years ago," Scott Robertson of Parma said.
If you've tried to drive down Sprague Road between State and Broadview roads, you've likely noticed you can't get very far.
Orange road closed signs are posted up preventing anyone from driving through a work zone.
Flood remediation work is underway and will continue for the next several weeks.
"It's just been an ongoing concern," Robertson said.
Robertson says he and his neighbors living along Sprague Road and Thornhurst Drive on the border of Parma and North Royalton have experienced a lot of stress over the years.
"In 2006 we bought the house, and I had like four inches of water after having heavy rain, and I mean the whole street was flooded," Robertson said.
Every time strong storms roll through, Robertson and his neighbors brace for the worst-case scenario.
He took News 5 behind his home and showed us the clear erosion caused by the flood waters to his and his neighbor's property.
"They lost twenty feet in that area. I've lost ten feet or so in the back. It's knocked trees into my house," Robertson said.
The Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District is now working on Big Creek Flood reduction right near Sprague Road.
Jenn Elting showed News 5 the work site where crews were digging away at the road and preparing to make a series of upgrades at the retention basin.
"This project will up-size a culvert that's running beneath Sprague Road right now, and we will also daylight part of the stream and lease two lots that are here next to me," Jenn Elting, NEORSD Spokesperson said.
Elting says the problem was that water would go into a couple of other culverts, forced to make a tight 90-degree turn, and then ultimately flood out the roadway and neighboring properties.
Over the next several months crews will double the culvert in size from four feet by three feet to eight feet by three feet.
"We will remove the stream from the culvert. We will re-establish the floodplain and give that water a whole lot of room to move," Elting said.
Once all is said and done, it will be a normal stream that won't flood the area.
The Sewer District has invested at least $40 million in storm water plans.
Officials say this is not the only project they're focused on.
There are two more across town. This includes Baldwin Creek Relief Culvert at Stormes Drive and the Upper Ridgewood Basin.
News 5 checked in with crews at the former Ridgewood Lake site after we first covered the story back in August 2022.
The fencing is still posted up as work continues.
The former man-made lake full of sediment is slowly transforming into a green retention basin.
Officials say there will still be water there, but that of a stream.
When it rains --the basin will fill with water and slowly release it.
"It'll allow the stormwater space to hold more stormwater and therefore reduce the flooding that's happening to a lot of the homes down there," Elting said.
Once all is said and done, landscaping, informational signage, scenic trails, and benches will be added to make it a welcoming space.
The Sprague Road project is expected to be completed by July 2024.
However, the road will re-open within the next two months.
The Upper Ridgewood project will wrap up by December 2023.
