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Oct 14, 2009 8:48 pm US/Pacific
The Big Fix A $33 Million Bust?
SACRAMENTO (CBS13) ―
Commuters are still talking about the big flooding mess on I-5 in downtown Sacramento Tuesday.
Today, Caltrans officials said there are old pipes under that new section of freeway, which means yesterday's big flood could happen again.
David Keeling waded through the flooded freeway for hours.
"[It's] pretty brutal…probably about eight inches deep on one side I'd say," said David.
Caltrans claims an old pipe clogged with debris during Tuesday's storm backing up traffic through the newly-improved boat section of I-5.
"Why wasn't someone taking care of that during the months it wasn't raining," said one local resident.
This was how our conversation with Caltrans played out yesterday:
"This looks like the big fix failed," said CBS13's Koula Gianulias.
"That would be a wrong assumption," said Mark Dinger, Caltrans spokesperson. "The big worked just great."
Today, we asked Mark Dinger of Caltrans the same question.
"So if this is a success, did it work how you wanted it to work?" I asked.
"Well not really," said Dinger.
That's because of the clogged drain. But officials still say the new underground system is working, even if it took longer than expected.
"It just wastes taxpayers' money," said a local resident.
With a tag of $33 million, shouldn't all of the previous problems with flooding be a thing of the past?
"Right, well, you know, keep in mind, $33 million, that paid just enough for us to replace the pavement and the drainage systems directly underneath the pavement," said Dinger. "We didn't rip out the entire boat section and replace it all."
"I would give them the benefit of the doubt. And I think time will tell because they are just at the beginning of the storm season," said Cheryl Cipov, motorist.
And even if another storm hits, they can't guarantee another storm will not flood the road. For that to happen, they would have to flush out all of the old pipes, leading to a freeway closure –more headaches for motorists.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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