Published: August 04, 2009 05:29 pm      

Moving mountains: Grundy project tops $104 million

Moving an entire town away from a flood-prone river is not an easy job. However, that is just what officials in the small Southwest Virginia town of Grundy have been doing for the past several years, and their work won’t be completed until 2011 at the earliest.

The massive undertaking has been made possible through a united effort of local, state and federal agencies working together for the common goal of protecting citizens and property from natural disasters.

Last week, U.S. Sen. Jim Webb, D-Va., and U.S. Sen. Mark R. Warner, D-Va., announced the award of another $4 million for the ongoing Grundy Flood Control and Redevelopment Project through the Appalachian Regional Commission. The funds were included in the Fiscal Year 2010 Energy and Water Development Appropriations Act.

That brings the total federal funding investment to date for the Grundy Flood Control and Redevelopment Project to more than $104 million. That’s an impressive figure and a welcomed investment for a small town in rural Southwest Virginia.

The multi-million dollar project has included the moving of mountains, the demolition of aging buildings and the relocation of roadways. Specifically, a new four lane segment of U.S. Route 460 will serve the dual purpose of providing modern transportation while the roadway embankment itself acts as a levee to protect Grundy from future flooding.

The small town has experienced nine major floods since 1929, an average of almost one each decade. The flood of 1977 caused $15 million in damages to 228 residential and commercial structures. In 1984, another major flood caused $3.9 million in damages, according to earlier estimates by U.S. Rep. Rick Boucher, D-Va., a long-time supporter of the flood-proofing project in Grundy.

The project itself has been a joint endeavor between the town, the Virginia Department of Transportation and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers since day one.

The additional funding announced last week by Webb and Warner will be used for a continuation of the ongoing flood control project, as well as the acquisition and administration of a pedestrian bridge contract and a flood warning system and emergency evacuation plans for Buchanan and Dickenson counties.

The additional $4 million in federal funds is welcomed.

Although it has been years in the making, each passing day the Grundy Flood Control and Redevelopment Project moves another step closer toward its end goal.

We eagerly await the completion of this urgently needed flood-proofing project.