A once-controversial and often-delayed storm water management project in Ingham County is nearly finished.
The Montgomery Drain system, a storm water and pollution project started in 2014, is designed to collect runoff from north of Saginaw Street along U.S. 127, to south of Michigan Avenue — an area that includes Lansing's Frandor Shopping Center and the former Red Cedar Golf Course.
Ingham County Drain Commissioner Pat Lindemann says the need for the Montgomery Drain Project was realized decades ago.
“We were faced with a problem way back in the early '90s with somewhere between 50,000 and 70,000 pounds of pollution entering the Red Cedar River,” he said.
The project was approved in 2014 but was delayed by lawsuits, which were eventually dropped. Construction began in 2020.
Lindemann says COVID-19 drove costs from an original estimate of around $30 million to around $50 million. But he says an ecological approach—using waterfalls, rocks and vegetation instead of building a filtration plant—helped to lower expenses by millions of dollars.
“Between Grand River and Michigan Avenue, I have eleven waterfalls that put in oxygen into the water,” he said.
Lindemann expects the Montgomery Drain System to be finished in the next two to four months.
Produced with assistance from the Public Media Journalists Association Editor Corps funded by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, a private corporation funded by the American people.