My neighborhood of 100 townhouses has 2 entrances and one goes by a
large parking lot. There is/was a drain in the parking lot that
allowed water to pass under our road, but now the drain is fully
clogged and the water pours across the road. In the past it has
frozen there also**.

But I'm wondering if any of this matters?

So what if there is a half inch of water or more flowing across the
road? When it rains, lots of roads have water.

The path of the water is right at a 90 degree turn in this
road/driveway where everyone has to (and does) slow down anyhow,
because it's 90 degrees (and followed 65 feet later by another 80
degree turn).

The ice is not flat but full of ripples, because the water is flowing
when it freezes. I think this is a little less slippery than flat
ice.

Even if someone were to skid, he could skid into the curb, but after
that is just an empty grassy area. If he gets 20 feet beyond there,
there is a picket fence, nothing very expensive. There is never
anyone in the yard behind the picket fence and almost never anyone in
the area in front of it, especially when it is raining or icy out.

So is there a point to clearing the silt and mud from the drain so
that the water flows under the road?

With all the silt and mud and excess black-top that this clog gets,
won't it plug the 12 or 24" culvert soon anyhow?



**I know that we have a legal right, perhaps to require the property
manager next door to keep the drain open, but if not that, at least to
open the drain ourselves. We were buillt by the same developer and
have a reciprocal contract about some stuff, although it doesn't
mention the drain specifically.

About 3 years ago I did so myself, at midnight. And under the
silt/soil/mud, I found a 1/2 inch layer of some sort of soft "cement",
so it looked like our neighbor plugged the drain on purpose. I'd
dig it out again if there were a good reason. Last time I left a sign
behind explaining what I had done.

Meirman
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