The purpose of this project is to select a flood mitigation alternative that will reduce surface flooding in the Schoonmaker Creek Watershed. The City has completed a comprehensive evaluation of both options. In October, staff will provide a recommendation to the City Council for future construction.

The Schoonmaker Creek watershed is made up of roughly 1,900 acres (3.0 square miles) in the City of Wauwatosa and the City of Milwaukee. Most of the original Schoonmaker Creek has been enclosed in pipes. Only the short reach in the City of Wauwatosa between W Lloyd St and Milwaukee Ave remains as an open channel. The watershed has experienced numerous heavy storm events since 1986 (when documentation began), causing flooding to streets, homes, and businesses due to the limited capacity of the enclosed system.

In 2020, SEWRPC completed a high-level analysis of alternatives to reduce flooding in the watershed. In 2022, Wauwatosa’s Common Council recommended that two (2) alternatives from the SEWRPC report be further evaluated including more advanced modeling, development of 30% engineering design plans and development of detailed cost estimates.

Alternative A is a 10-foot diameter tunnel, bored deep underground from N Lloyd St along N 68th St to discharge at the Menomonee River. Alternative A is shown as a red-dashed line in the graphic to the right. Alternative B is a more traditional storm sewer improvement consisting of a large box culvert (ranging from 6'x12' to 6'x16’) starting at W Lloyd St and running south along Martha Washington Dr/W Martin Dr/N 60th St to discharge at the Menomonee River. Alternative B is shown as a solid orange line on the graphic. Both alternatives (A&B) would also include systemic improvements to the storm sewers north of Lloyd St to direct surface floodwaters into the new improvements downstream, shown as the blue shading area on the graphic.

Both alternatives would reduce surface flooding in the watershed, while simultaneously reducing flows in the open channel portion of Schoonmaker Creek for events ranging from the 1-year up to and including the 100-year, 24-hour rainfall events.

This study is now completed. City engineering staff presented a recommendation of a design and construction alternative. The Common Council decided that the City of Wauwatosa will proceed with design and construction of Alternative B (outlined above).