JONESBORO, Ark. – The City of Jonesboro is digging a detention pond between the Interstate 555 on-ramp and access road south of I-555 and west of Caraway Road after receiving permission from the Arkansas Department of Transportation.
The pond will provide roughly 1½ acre-feet of storage and improve drainage in the surrounding commercial area.
“We’ve seen our city continue to grow alongside a pattern of more frequent heavy rainfall,” Mayor Harold Perrin said. “This is a very localized area, but anything we can do to relieve potential flooding is worthwhile.”
City Chief Engineer Craig Light said ArDOT maintains Interstate roadsides, but gave Jonesboro a permit to do the work because of drainage concerns in the area.
Update: Some questions came in about the use of the word detention vs. retention. We asked Bill Campbell with the city to help us out and he sent this along.
“Well the actual difference is a detention pond slows down water at a peak rainfall and slowly reduces it,” said Bill Campbell, City of Jonesboro. “In other words, it isn’t always wet, but holds water in case of flood. Retention ponds ALWAYS have water.”
Photos/Press release – Bill Campbell, City of Jonesboro
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