Scott City receives grant to fund drainage improvements

SCOTT CITY, Mo. (KBSI) – City Administrator Dustin Whitworth said a grant Scott City received from the state Department of Economic Development will fund a project that will allow for better drainage of water out of town. 

“What we’re trying to do is slow the water down with retention ponds, put in culverts to stop erosion of ditches, weeds and things of that nature, and put in a nice drainage system so it can get out of town at a little quicker pace,” he said.

Using the $639,000 grant, the city will embark on a project during which it will install culverts south of the railroad tracks along Oak Street and will repave Oak Street, Perkins Street, and Mar-Elm Street. 

Whitworth said this project caps off a recent one that combatted the frequent flooding the city used to experience. 

“It’s a cherry on top,” he said.

He also said the city’s geography, with the hills on the north side and flatter land to the south, used to contribute to flooding even during minor storms, but those floods are largely a thing of the past. 

“Over the last few years, unless we get an absolute gully-washer, four inches of rain or so, we still have some flooding, but just for typical one- or two-inch rains, we used to get flooding on Main Street, and now we don’t have that at all,” he said.

Whitworth expects the project to start later this year, and the city will match $139,000 of those $639,000.