Kansas Turnpike Authority to reduce risk of flash flooding on highway - Wichita Eagle
The Kansas Turnpike Authority will do more than originally planned to protect motorists on a two-mile stretch south of Emporia where seven people have died in flash flooding since 2003. KTA on Tuesday announced the additional measures it is... The design is intended to keep water off the roadway during what is known as a 100-year storm, KTA said in a news release. The work is expected to be done in 2016. A 100-year storm is one with a 1 percent chance of happening in any given year. KTA also will install a stream monitor at mile marker 118, where 21-year-old Zachary Clark of Texas died on July 10 when his Ford Mustang ran into an estimated 10 inches of floodwater on the turnpike. Two other places on the turnpike have monitors – at mile marker 116, where six people died in 2003, and at mile marker 199 near Lawrence. Internal discussions and review have led KTA to make “a notable change to its drainage structure designs,” the KTA statement said. Current national guidelines call for culverts, which carry water underneath the interstate, to be big enough to handle water from a 50-year storm. “The new focus is to keep water off the roadway during a 100-year storm, regardless of how the structure is designed. Source: www.kansas.com
