By MIKE KRAFCIK
6 News Reporter
KNOXVILLE (WATE) - The city of Knoxville has taken a step toward fixing a flooding problem spot.
City council Tuesday night approved a contract with an engineering firm to design a better drainage system for a section of Prosser Road.
Vaughn and Melton Consulting Engineers, Inc. won the contract for an amount not to exceed $192,000.
The design work is expected to wrap up by next spring, with construction anticipated to start a few months afterward.
Flooding has been a chronic problem on Prosser Road for years. Standing water on the road usually builds up in the winter and spring. It's often so bad, the road closes for weeks at a time.
"It's taken a lot of our crew time to go out there every time it rains to put up barriers, monitor when the water comes back up again so we can let people drive through again," said Jim Hagerman, director of engineering for the city of Knoxville.
The city hopes the new design plan will help alleviate the flooding.
Previously, engineers spent months surveying the road. "There's been a lot of data gathering because it's a complicated problem," Hagerman. said.
The design plan calls for the road to be raised around four to five feet. In addition, the road will be narrowed from four lanes to two.
"The road will be raised up higher and narrowed down, pulled up out of the area that floods," Hagerman said.
The project is good news to Prosser Road residents like Sandy Price, who says dealing with flooding becomes a problem. "When it's flooded, I got to always direct truck drivers to go the other way," she said.
Prosser Road is an important gateway, especially for truck drivers and people traveling to the Knoxville Zoo.
"To make our city to look a little better because we have people coming from out of town to go to the zoo, and they pass by here, this is this road they usually use," Price said.
City officials say the improvements are expected to be finished by spring 2014.
Flooding has been a chronic problem on Prosser Road for years.
