Photos courtesy of city of Vestavia Hills.
A city of Vestavia Hills crew replace a section of pipe on Blue Lake Drive that had separated and settled and extend the pipe to allow for a more stable road shoulder.
Battling Mother Nature can be draining.
With 54 to 57 inches of rain falling in the Birmingham metro area in the average year, that’s a lot of rainwater to handle. The national average is 30 to 38 inches, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
But Lori Beth Kearley, Vestavia Hills’ director of public services, isn’t giving up the fight. Kearly, who was named Department Head of the Year by the Alabama City/County Management Association this year, is working to make Vestavia Hills more proactive in its battle with stormwater flooding.
“In recent years, we’ve really moved from a more reactive approach to a more proactive, systematic and comprehensive management of our infrastructure assets,” Kearley said.
There is a lot of intentionality behind planning, and her department’s processes are very data-driven, she said.
“We’re looking at condition assessments. We’re looking at system needs. We’re looking at risks and other factors In determining prioritization of projects and other maintenance activities, and ultimately protecting and preserving our assets,” Kearley said. “We’re wanting to extend their service life. We want to make sure we are spending public dollars where we need to spend them when we need to spend them and how we need to spend them.”
For fiscal 2026, her department set a goal to do 4,000 linear feet of drainage projects, including stormwater pipe replacements, pipe rehabilitation projects, curb and gutter replacements, and ditches and culverts cleaned out, she said. They ended up with more than 5,500 linear feet of drainage projects completed, she said.
Examples of projects completed by city crews in the past couple of years include:
► Replacing a stormwater pipe on Blue Lake Drive to make the road shoulder more stable
► Pouring a new base for a corroded corrugated metal pipe and installing a new gutter section on River Terrace Drive
► Constructing a new concrete box with an inlet top and flume to relieve surface flooding caused by clogged or collapsed pipes on Glendmere Place
► Removing a crushed pipe from underneath Markcliff Circle and adding a valley gutter to better control drainage
Kearley soon hopes to begin a pipe lining project in which the city utilizes new technology to reduce the cost and negative impacts on property when addressing failing stormwater infrastructure. That project was out for bid in early September and is expected to cost more than $100,000 but should increase the speed and efficiency of stormwater pipe rehabilitation, she said.
In her 2027 budget request, Kearley asked the City Council to fund the purchase of a combo jetter vacuum truck, which is a specialized vehicle that combines high-pressure water jetting and heavy-duty industrial vacuum suction into a single unit to clean and maintain underground infrastructure. Her plan is to hire a dedicated equipment operator to run that truck.
“What that’s going to allow us to do is to have a public works crew solely dedicated to that effort,” Kearley said. “This will be a systematic weekly (job), not just responding to problems as they occur and as we’re made aware of pipes that are blocked under the road. We’re systemically and regularly on a weekly basis moving throughout our storm drainage system cleaning out pipes, which we have historically contracted out, cleaning out inlets regularly. … This is much more efficient and effective — being proactive rather than waiting for issues to come to us. Our plan is to use this in conjunction with our pipe camera that we have to do inspections, to find issues before they become problems and significant expenses and disruptive projects.”
She also hopes to move forward with several projects to reduce stormwater flooding in places such as Canyon Drive and Vesthaven Way, she said.
