Installation of Water

Gauges on Marsha
Sharp Freeway
E m i l y Per e z , Van e s s a C a r r a n z a , E m o r y O s b o r n , Pat r i c k Tom l i n s o n
student15@ttu.edu 806-555-5555

Introduction

INSIDE THIS
ISSUE
1

Introduction

Current Situation

Comparison to other cities

Cost and Benefits

Project Plan

Conclusion

Works Cited

Resume 15007544

Our purpose for this proposal is to ultimately make

Lubbock roads a safer place for its citizens. Specifically, we are
addressing the issue of Marsha Sharp where it intersects with
University Street. Here, there have been many incidences where
the safety on the roads had been compromised. They have been
compromised so much so, that Lubbock made national news
because of the flooding issue in this particular location. Our
goal is to implement two flood gauge signs that simply inform
and provide caution to drivers when the water has reached a
certain point. Though we cannot fix the issue of flooding
entirely, we can make Lubbock a safer place for not only our
cars but for our drivers.

Current Situation
Our current situation that we are talking about is the
issue of having no flood gauge signs particularly on the
Marsha Sharp Freeway underpass (33.592585,
-101.871129). During severe weather days this area can
become incredibly flooded because there is more water
being produced than the drains installed can get rid of.
When levels get high enough to where drivers are unable to
see the road anymore, usually drivers that have lived in
Lubbock for

Water Gauge
Installation

Figure A

Figure B

Page 2

quite some time can estimate the depth of the flood by

referencing it to objects around, such as the curb. Since
there are thousands of new students each year just from
Texas Tech alone, these new drivers are not adapted to
their surroundings yet, resulting in some unfortunate
accidents in which drivers are getting either fully
submerged or getting stuck far enough into the water
that they drown their engine. In September 2014, the
Marsha Sharp Freeway was flooded causing two cars, as
seen in Figure A and magnified in Figure B, to get stuck
in the water. This month had a recorded rainfall of 6.94
inches. The latest recorded rainfall that was problematic
for drivers in Lubbock was May 2015 with 12.12 inches,
which is almost twice the amount that the city received
back in September 2014.
Presented in picture C is the recorded rainfall for
the past 14 years. As you are able to see, I took the
liberty of circling in red all the months that had
precipitated over 5 inches. This is the usual amount that
causes the Marsha Sharp Freeway to begin to flood.
Although there has only been 4 marked months in the
past 5 years that have been over 5 inches of rain, this is
a very dangerous situation that needs to be handled.

Figure C

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Comparison to Other Cities

As stated previously, there are several reasons supporting why the city of Lubbock
needs a better and improved system in warning its citizens in the event of a flood.
In order to better understand what a realistic solution for this would be, our group
researched other cities that may encounter a similar issue as Lubbock. By
calculating the amount of rainfall of the year 2015 alone, I discovered that Lubbock
has experienced almost 30 inches of rain. From 2001-2006, there was an average of
78.6% of vehicle-related fatalities due to flooding in Texas. This is reason to believe
there are road safety necessities that need to be met in order to lower that
percentage.

Figure A

Figure B

Figure A and Figure B are from an article posted by a traveler going through
Fort Stockton, Texas that shows a road that contains a dip, similar to that on
Marsha Sharp Freeway. However, the difference is that on this road there is a flood
gauge sign right after this dip in the road, so as to warn travelers of this potential
safety hazard. In Austin, they have a Watershed Protection Department that
handles all the issues and awareness to the city of Austin. On their website, they
have listed all the types of warning signs they use on their streets to make aware the
weather or flooding situation that is occurring. For example, they state that in their
city they have: 130 rain or creek level gauges, 15 automated barricades low water
crossings, gauge adjusted radar rainfall, cameras at low water crossings, and
predictive modeling and mapping. (Austin Texas government) All of this evidence
supports that Lubbock is in desperate need for an improved system. We are also
able to contrast the lack of signage in Lubbock, by looking at what other cities have
done.

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Cost and Benefits

An approximation of the cost of two flood gage signs plus the labor it
would take to install them is $150. Both of the signs would cost around
$100 and the labor costs would be around $50. The cost of the sign
involves the post as well as the sign and the labor cost is for two workers
working for two hours. As can be seen, the cost of both of these signs is not
a great amount considering the benefits that would be gained by having
these signs.

The benefits of installing flood gage signs on the Marsha Sharp

Freeway are as follows: driving on the highway would be much safer,
Lubbock citizens would be aware of the potential danger that could be
ahead of them during flash floods and unnecessary damage to citizens cars
could be avoided. The amount of damage that has been caused to Lubbock
citizens cars when driving on Marsha Sharp is unacceptable and it is the
job of the city to protect the citizen, so it is not only important for the city
to do this, but it is the citys obligation to the citizen. With that said there is
almost no cost too high for the protection of people and considering that
the cost of these two street signs is so low, there is no logical reason why
the city of Lubbock should not install these signs. It is our hope that the
city will see the need for these street signs as a means for protecting the
drivers on Marsha Sharp and will quickly and efficiently install these signs.