In April 2022, the City of Pine Bluff became one of several municipalities represented in the Arkansas Black Mayors Association to receive notice of a grant award for flood mitigation from the Natural Resources Conservation Service, funded by the Biden-Harris Administration’s bipartisan infrastructure law.
Through this grant award, the City will be provided $32 million to improve our local drainage system.
The overall project will occur in phases. In phase one, this funding will enable the City to perform an engineering assessment of the current system.
A public meeting was held Thursday evening at the Pine Bluff Convention Center in order to provide citizens with more information on the grant, and United States Department of Agriculture State Conservationist Mike Sullivan was on hand for the meeting.
Sullivan spoke with Deltaplex News and gave more information on how the grant came about and what it means for Pine Bluff.
Sullivan said that this program began in the 1960’s and 1970’s, but this is the first time in several years a city has been awarded such a grant.
Several citizens spoke at the meeting describing what it is like in areas they live in when it floods. Pine Bluff Mayor Shirley Washington discussed those comments, and some key areas this project will focus on.
Pine Bluff has four watersheds and will receive funding to address all four of those watersheds. Mayor Washington said work should begin soon on each of them.
An action plan detailing the work needed to improve the system and reduce flooding in the city will be compiled after the assessment is completed, which will be followed by phase two of the project.
In phase two, the City will then procure additional funding to perform the work outlined in that plan.
