BRECKSVILLE, Ohio – A $5 million project designed to stop the flooding of Riverview Road north of Ohio 82 is scheduled to begin the first week of April.
The Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District plans to raise the road by 4 ½ feet at the highest point, replace two undersized stormwater pipes that run under Riverview with larger pipes and take additional measures to slow stormwater flow and curb soil erosion.
“Essentially, this project will raise the road so that the tributary streams can pass beneath it rather than over it,” Jennifer Elting, NEORSD spokesperson, told cleveland.com.
Construction will take about 11 months. Sections of Riverview will be closed during that time, but residents in the area will be able to get in and out of their driveways.
On Thursday (March 20), NEORSD’s Board of Trustees may vote to hire Independence Excavating for $5 million to perform the work. The company is a division of DiGeronimo Cos., which has been in the process of moving its headquarters from Independence to Valor Acres in Brecksville.
Only one other company, Fabrizi Trucking & Paving Co., bid on the project. Its bid was $5.6 million.
NEORDS will cover most of the project costs. The money will come from stormwater management fees that property owners in the sewer district pay as part of their monthly sewer bills.
The city of Brecksville will contribute $900,000 toward the work. Previously, the city’s contribution was set at $700,000 but then the project estimate rose from $4.2 million – an amount given by an NEORSD official to City Council in January 2024 – to $4.8 million.
Elting said last week that Enbridge, a natural gas utility, was relocating a gas line ahead of the project. Trees were also being removed, and FirstEnergy will move some of its electric-line poles.
The project will take place on a short section of Riverview between Greenhaven Parkway and Wiese Road.
This stretch of Riverview, about 1,000 linear feet, floods every time it rains, making the road impassible with water and debris, Anne Schilling, NEORSD’s watershed team leader, told council in January 2024.
Emergency vehicles can’t pass through and residents can’t leave or enter their driveways.
The project is designed to make the road passable if up to 5 inches of rain falls in any 24-hour period, Schilling said.
Today, Riverview floods when 1 inch of rain falls within 24 hours, forcing the city to close the road between Greenhaven and Wiese.
The Riverview project, in addition to raising Riverview and replacing stormwater pipes beneath the road, will include:
• Dredging a retention basin, or pond, called Picha Lake, from which water flows both in and out. The basin, west of Riverview, drains toward Greenhaven. NEORSD has already dredged about 12,000 cubic yards of sediment from the basin. Sediment collection can decrease a basin’s ability to hold stormwater.
• Removing deteriorated “sediment vaults” designed to trap sediment, like rocks, debris and litter, and keep it out of the stormwater stream. The vaults, at Riverview and Greenhaven, have been damaged by strong stormwater flows and have become difficult to maintain.
• Replacing the sediment vaults with an open stream leading to the pipes beneath the raised Riverview. The open stream, easier to maintain than the sediment vaults, will contain “riprap” -- large stones that slow stormwater flow and protect against erosion. A headwall between the pipes under Riverview and the open stream will help support the infrastructure.
• Installing guardrails on the headwall and around the open stream.
• Adding a culvert under Greenhaven that will also help drain the intersection.