BILLINGS — Montana’s stormwater infrastructure got a harsh grade last year from the American Society of Civil Engineers, but in Billings, the city says a multimillion-dollar stormwater project along Wicks Lane is a step in the right direction.
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The Wicks Lane Stormwater Improvement Project has been under construction for two years in the Heights. It is designed to upgrade outdated systems and install modern treatment technology to reduce runoff pollution.
“This helps us address current capacity issues. Portions of the city's storm drain system are undersized. Additionally, this project allows us to build in the future as future roads are improved," said Tyler Westrope, staff engineer with Billings Public Works. "This project has been on our books to complete for a very long time."
Westrope is also the project manager of the $4.5 million upgrade that will improve stormwater drainage for the growing area in compliance with a Montana Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) water quality permit to protect the Yellowstone River. A feature of the project is a newly installed 20-by-12-foot stormwater quality treatment structure, which filters out debris, floatables, and sediment before the water flows into the river where the city collects its drinking water. Most other runoff in Billings drains to the river untreated. The unit is the largest stormwater treatment structure installed in the city's system.
"With this project, we did install the largest treatment unit we've installed in the city before, so we're pretty excited about how this project sets us up for current regulations and issues and the future as well," said Westrope.
The structure cost under $200,000 and was installed in large, crane-lifted sections, each weighing up to 25,000 pounds.
The final project before surface restorations is replacing the water main line. A 54-inch concrete pipe was recently installed 20 feet deep in the ground, costing roughly $1,000 per section.
"We've been having a lot of conversations with City Council and the public about what our rates need to be to build projects like this and City Council has responded great, and we do think we have a rate profile necessary to complete our improvements over a 15-year period for deferred maintenance," said Westrope.
The new infrastructure, which replaces a system from the 1970s, is built to last a century. Statewide, projects like this are overdue. A report card released in December of 2024 by the American Society of Civil Engineers gave Montana's stormwater infrastructure a grade of a D minus, mainly due to the state's struggle to fund much-needed upgrades as projects are expensive. According to Westrope, the city is not as far behind in this area as other spots in Montana.
“The Billings stormwater system is in its infancy, but we feel like we have a very good plan moving forward. There's a lot of work to do. We're not necessarily taking baby steps but we're also not running yet either. We are somewhere in the middle," said Westrope. "We were able to come up with a program and a rate structure that accomplishes these goals over a 15 and 25-year period, so I do believe that we're in a little better situation than statewide.”
The city has nine stormwater outfalls into the river, and after this project is completed, Westrope and his crew will look at improving the Arnold drainage basin near Shiloh Road to fix existing flooding problems.
With construction expected to wrap up at the end of May, it is a step in the right direction to fix Montana's aging infrastructure.
“Infrastructure projects are difficult when you're in the midst of it. They are messy, they're noisy, they're loud, they take a long time, but at the end of the day, all of our infrastructure is below ground. We won't be back here again," said Westrope. "We're trying to be a resilient stormwater system to really manage our risk, manage homeowners' risk, and as storms increase in intensity and size, we are well set up for the future for that."
