Harrisburg, Man-Tra-Con, IDOT working to improve Pankey Branch flow
</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[Harrisburg city workers, Man-Tra-Con temporary workers and Illinois Department of Transportation are working together to improve drainage on Pankey Branch on the southeast side of Harrisburg.
Harrisburg Street Superintendent Rick Brown said city crews are using heavy machinery and Man-Tra-Con workers are using chainsaws to clear brush and landscape Pankey Branch in an area between Wal-Mart and Garden Heights.
Brown said the branch appeared to have been dug out with a drag line and the dirt apparently was deposited on the north side of the ditch at a steep slope. Because no one could get a tractor and mower onto the bank trees have grown up and limbs have fallen into the ditch that impede the flow of water.
"We are making a 3-to-1 slope on either side of it so a tractor or mower could get to it," Brown said.
"The way it has been it was way too steep."
Using an excavator and bulldozer the city crews are dredging the ditch to increase its capacity.
When the work is done that portion of Pankey Branch should resemble the portion between Sloan Street and the pumping station at the Harrisburg levee that retired city Flood Superintendent Bob Holmes landscaped a few years ago.
"It's going really good. I'm really surprised that this time of year we are able to do this kind of work," Brown said.
Normally the ground is too wet to consider driving heavy equipment over, he said.
Brown said on examining Pankey Branch beneath the bridge on state Route 34/145 between Ron Morse Drive and Garden Heights Road he saw about half the span of the ditch was plugged with silt. He notified Illinois Department of Transportation that controls that portion of Pankey Branch around the bridge. IDOT examined it and sent out an engineer.
"They are dredging mud out from under the bridge and maintaining their right of way," Brown said.
He said IDOT crews will be sloping the bridge portion of Pankey Branch to match the 3-to-1 slope on the rest of the drainage.
"It should be a big help," Brown said.
The work should help move water downstream and alleviate the pooling around Brookstone Estates and M and S Implements, he said.
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DeNeal receives e-mail at bdeneal@yourclearwave.com.</li>
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