HAMPTON, Va. — Millions of dollars in federal funds will be poured into a project to improve a portion of Hampton's North Armistead Avenue, an area known to flood often.
“It can get kind of worrisome if you don’t have the right car or your little car can get flooded out,” said Mansa Alamin.
Several Hampton residents like Alamin have watched flood waters cover Armistead by Newmarket Creek and make it difficult to pass through. He’s even had to lend a hand to stranded drivers.
“I’ve made a couple dollars dragging people out of the water," Alamin said. "It’s kind of disheartening.”
But his days of running in the water to help will hopefully come to an end as the city puts one of its flood reduction projects into motion. The plan consists of elevating a half-mile of Armistead Avenue.
“Basically from the interstate back that floods frequently,” said Hampton City Spokesperson Robin McCormick.
City crews would work on new piping under the street as well as add green space and a channel to catch water.
“We want to hold it until those pollutants can be filtered,” McCormick explained.
The city will receive more than $13 million in grant funding from the Virginia Department of Emergency Management.
“It allows us to put it out to bid basically because we were waiting to ensure that we had some funding," she said. "We have done some of the studies and I think that’s what put us in a good position with the state.”
McCormick said it should be the largest source of funding for the project which is slated to begin in the fall of 2024. However, she said because of the project’s complexity, it could take several years to complete.
“We can’t close the road entirely," McCormick said. "So, we’re going to have to kind of work on that in stages.”
Hampton has already been awarded over $670,000 in SMART SCALE funding from the Virginia Department of Transportation. McCormick said this is one of three projects aimed at reducing flooding along Newmarket Creek.
The expansion and improvement of Lake Hampton broke ground last week. The Big Bethel Blueway project, which will transform an existing drainage canal into a stormwater storage facility and public green space, could begin as soon as this fall.