Long-Awaited Drainage Project Moving Forward Near Neshaminy Creek

Middletown Township officials are moving forward with a long-delayed project to ease flooding and property damage in a neighborhood near the Neshaminy Creek.

The Middletown Township Board of Supervisors voted last week to award a $524,900 drainage improvement contract to Mayfield Site Contractors Inc. The firm is based in King of Prussia, Montgomery County.

The project will impact a stretch of Hillside Avenue bookended by Shaw and Knoll avenues along the township’s border with Bensalem Township.

Officials said sloping terrain behind homes leads down toward Neshaminy Creek.

Neighborhood residents have dealt with drainage issues and flooding for years.

The Hillside Avenue drainage project had been stuck in a “holding pattern” while undergoing several design revisions, according to Isaac Kessler, assistant township manager and township engineer.

“The main reason that it’s not been able to move forward in years past is just some funding availability with annual budgets to do larger drainage projects,” Kessler said. “With the stormwater funding that we now have designated for these types of projects, we have that in the budget available to do a project such as this.”

As part of the work, crew members will reshape the road surface to redirect runoff away from vulnerable areas. They will also install new storm drains to capture surface water from the street and route it into the stormwater system, which will discharge it into the Neshaminy Creek.

The work will take place within the public right-of-way, and municipal officials consulted local residents during the planning stages, Kessler added.

“We’ve worked with the community throughout the process to have this result as a project that should really improve along their properties in that part of the township,” Kessler said.

Mayfield Site Contractors submitted the lowest offer among five competing bids that met the township’s requirements.

The contractor’s proposal came in lower than the preliminary engineering cost estimates from the start of the year.

Kessler said the lower rate was driven mostly by paving rates.

“They were a good amount below our engineer’s estimate from the beginning of the year,” Kessler said. “So that was good to see.”

The bid allowed funding for the alternate option that covers supplementary road enhancements near the intersection of Knoll and Hillside avenues.