Ann Arbor staff outline Phase 4 of gravel-roads drainage study, urge residents to sign up for walkabouts

Jennifer Lawson, the City of Ann Arbor's water quality manager in the systems planning unit, opened an information session on the gravel roads stormwater management study and said Phase 4 will examine just over 2 miles of unpaved city-owned roads.

Lawson said the city's stormwater program manages an extensive system and multiple partners: "We manage and maintain over 500 miles of conveyance and collection for stormwater," and the system includes more than 11,000 catch basins. She explained the city divides its approach into three broad tools: gray infrastructure (pipes, catch basins), green infrastructure (rain gardens, detention basins, natural creeks and urban forest) and the public right-of-way (roads, ditches, curb and gutter).

Phase 4 will focus on a set of miscellaneous areas the staff described on the project map, including portions of Cedar Bend, Chalmers, Warwick Road, parts of Huron View Boulevard, Fountain Street, Hampstead Lane, portions of Longshore, Jorn Court, the end of Marlborough Drive, a large section of Traver and a portion of Upland Drive near Leslie Park Golf Course. Lawson said prior phases addressed larger clusters of gravel roads and lessons learned included opportunities for regional stormwater storage, unearthing previously unknown underground infrastructure and targeted ditching.

The study team will use engineering review, resident observations and prior A2 Fix It submissions to identify areas of known concern and to craft potential recommendations. Those recommendations, Lawson said, could range from routine maintenance such as culvert cleaning and ditch restoration to regional detention projects and, in some cases, paving. She cautioned that paving is not the default: it is one possible solution among others and would trigger a separate decision process.

Residents were invited to sign up for one-on-one walkabouts with the consultant team, and to upload photos and observations to the Celebrate Engage Ann Arbor project page for the gravel roads drainage study. Lawson closed by directing attendees to the project URL (.a2gov.org/drainagestudies) and to staff contact emails for follow-up questions.

The session concluded with staff saying analysis is already underway and that engineers have begun dashboarding survey data; the project will use that work and community input to develop draft recommendations and next steps.