A section of Erie Street, between Walnut Street and Gifford Ave will be closed Tuesday through Thursday. The sewer pipes under the street will be replaced with larger pipes to help with the flooding problem. The pipes, pictured above, are stored at the Lakewood Volunteer Fire Department and will be transported to Erie Street. P-J photo by Carly Gould

LAKEWOOD — Beginning today, a section of Erie Street, between Gifford Avenue and Walnut Street, will be closed to traffic for three days.

“The village of Lakewood is working on a stormwater culvert project,” said Joseph Johnson, village clerk of Lakewood. “It won’t alleviate the flooding (happening on that street), but it will improve the existing culvert running under the street. The pipes are going to be bigger, so that will allow more water to flow through them, which should help.”

The project costs $20,000, and is funded by the village of Lakewood. There will be some equipment rental from a larger excavator.

The new pipes are waiting to be transported from the Lakewood Volunteer Fire Department to Erie Street.

The cause of the flooding is believed to be damage from a rain storm to a large cross pipe under Erie Street that happened in June. Department of Public Works Supervisor, Thomas Pilling, said the rain was bad enough in June that the pipe would have to be replaced.

Erie Street is not the only street that flooded during the rain storms. Approximately 400 feet of new sluice pipe was installed along the west side of Shadyside Avenue as a stormwater control measure. Winchester Road also had 160 feet of pipes replaced, all as a part of the Crescent Creek Stormwater Management Project. The estimated length of pipe under Erie Street is around 500 feet.