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VIRTUAL CONFERENCE: TECHNICAL SESSION RECAP By Ethan Skaggs & Reuben Robertson
Urban Stormwater Design:
Creating Capacity by Outsmarting Challenges
Johnson City owes much of its success City’s stormwater challenges for many floods, and increasing the flood depth
in the late 1800s and early 1900s, and decades to come. downtown. A grand solution gained
its early nickname “BOOMTOWN,” Early Johnson City: The Beginning of momentum in the 1970s and 1980s to fix
to the construction of the railroad. The Stormwater Challenges the problem of downtown flooding….
convergence of three major rail lines in the move away from the downtown flooding.
city’s center accelerated growth unlike any By the mid 1900s, Johnson City had
other neighboring small towns. experienced countless flooding issues, The mall on the outskirts of town took
with more than 17 separate flooding advantage of wide-open meadows, ample
The downtown area was built around occurrences. It requested several studies parking, and most advantageous of all, no
the rail lines, located in a valley between to understand the challenges, which flooding. The few businesses who managed
two major drainage basins. A more precise included development in the flood to stay afloat downtown throughout the
statement may be that downtown is located plain, encroachments on the natural 1980s and 1990s, pun intended, turned
ON the convergence of two major drainage floodway, and channel confinement and their anger on the flooding issue. Finally,
basins. The allure and convenience of the redirection. Reports prepared by Tennessee after decades of flooding, in October of
railroad, the information superhighway at Valley Authority (TVA) document the 2004, Johnson City formed a stormwater
the time, spurred development in bustling damage from floodwaters and depict the task force to identify tangible projects
downtown Johnson City. stormwater challenges in the city’s center. and programs to make progress on the
stormwater issue.
Buildings and streets were built over With the automobile becoming more
culverts and near the rail lines in the city’s common, Johnson City began to stretch Comprised of citizens, staff, and
core. The rapid development, confined out from downtown. With urban sprawl professional consultants, the task force
in the confluence of the valley’s drainage came the conversion of pervious land to identified specific problem areas, and the
basins, had set the course for Johnson impervious land, decreasing time between best course of action to solve the challenges
Johnson City Flood – May 29, 1908 Downtown Johnson City – Floods of 2005
Downtown Johnson City – Floods of 1956
14 TPW January/February 2021
