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Flooded North Little Rock community pushing for changes of Redwood Tunnel


The Redwood Tunnel located near the former Redwood Elementary is notorious for collecting excess water during heavy rains and flood events that infiltrates low-lying communities.  (Courtesy: Thomas Pownall, Thomas Engineering Company){ }
The Redwood Tunnel located near the former Redwood Elementary is notorious for collecting excess water during heavy rains and flood events that infiltrates low-lying communities. (Courtesy: Thomas Pownall, Thomas Engineering Company)
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Residents of the Dixie community in North Little Rock, already overwhelmed by floodwaters, are hoping for drastic change and improvements to the Redwood Tunnel.

The Redwood Tunnel is at least 100-year-old infrastructure that is prone to backing up with water and flooding into communities such as Dark Hollow and Dixie.

The tunnel runs about a half-mile from Dark Hollow to the Arkansas River.

Longtime resident Thomas McElwee has lived in the Dixie community since 1949.

“This particular ditch is 10 times larger than the drain that it flows in,” McElwee said. “That’s one of the reasons why we have such a problem getting people to build in our community is because this issue because they afraid of the flood insurance so high and the food zone.”

If it were up to McElwee, he’d install a pump system as a way to potentially alleviate the backup of water from infiltrating Dixie.

North Little Rock city officials have been around-the-clock busy monitoring the climate of flooding.

“In a perfect world, the solution would be to replace the tunnel,” said Danny Bradley, chief of staff for the North Little Rock mayor’s office.

Bradley stressed one of the big considerations in adopting a solution comes down to money. Another factor involves exploring all viable options, a task that’s been taking place for decades on the local state and federal levels.

At this time, there are no immediate plans to act on the Redwood Tunnel, although Bradley acknowledged something must be done.

The focus is on the aftermath of this year’s historic flooding and the path to rebuilding.

“When the waters recede, the city’s going to be here and do everything we can to help those folks restore their lives,” Bradley said.

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