Penn Township touts stormwater improvements after Sunday storm
This weekend’s storms in Butler County marked the first major test of a flood mitigation project which was recently completed in Penn Township.
Penn Township Supervisor Samuel Ward — as well as the township’s engineering firm Herbert, Rowland & Grubic — are touting the success of a project to mitigate the risk of flooding along Dodds Road, a township road which runs along Thorn Creek.
Ward said the newly modified Dodds Road stayed clear of flooding, even as water levels in Thorn Creek rose during a weekend of rain and snow.
“Last year, before we started construction, it flooded across the road,” Ward said. “And on Sunday, the road runs above the water level.”
Ward says it was the first time Thorn Creek swelled since Dodds Road underwent its major realignment last year to prevent floodwater from rising onto the road.
A section of Dodds Road was closed between May 20 and Sept. 6 to allow CRS Contracting and HRG to make major changes to the road, although the project was not declared “substantially complete” until November. These changes included raising the road above the flood plain and shifting the road.
“Dodds Road was moved further away from the stream, and it was raised in elevation,” Ward said.
Photos taken by Ward on Sunday afternoon, at what he called the “peak of Thorn Creek flooding,” show the creek levels not cresting onto the road. This is in contrast to a photo taken a year earlier, which shows water from the creek rising onto Dodds Road and creating an obstruction.
Penn Township is part of the Southwest Butler Stormwater Planning Commission, which includes nine other municipalities in Butler County. The group began meeting in 2019 to identify priority stormwater improvement projects, one of which was at Dodds Road. The project was paid for with a municipal infrastructure grant of more than $700,000 awarded in January 2023.
In addition, last year, four municipalities entered into an agreement to form a Southwest Butler Stormwater Authority which would be responsible for collecting fees and managing stormwater improvement projects for the member municipalities. Penn Township is not included in this arrangement.
