Work underway at Magnolia Street lot in Milton

Crews are hard at work in the Magnolia Street parking lot in Milton as they kick off a six-month project to repair the bulkhead along the Broadkill River and repave the parking lot. 

The lot is closed until the project is complete. The town is offering alternate parking at the adjacent lot at Milton Historical Society and at the lots near the fire hall at Front Street and Chestnut Street. 

The $1.2 million contract is aimed at curbing nuisance flooding and improving the deteriorating bulkhead. At the outset of the project, crews will do electrical work before moving on to the bulkhead and finally the parking lot.

The town has been debating the project for three years in response to frequent standing water in the parking lot; during storms, nearly a third of the lot is unusable. The project was initially only about drainage issues at the parking lot, but it grew to include repairs to the bulkhead when engineers from Pennoni Associates found a 30-inch drain pipe had collapsed, leading to a loss of soil behind the wall. The wall around the pipe has also become corroded.

The expanded scope and increased cost of supplies has caused the price of the project to go up to $1.2 million.