When there's a heavy rain in McKeesport, there's a traffic jam on Route 48 as workers from Tom Clark Chevrolet drive the new and used cars to higher ground.

They learned about the potential for flooding in their car lots in June 1996 and they aren't going to make the same mistake twice.

The city has been trying to get through a flood control project to stop the flooding of Long Run Creek, which caused the problems for the Chevrolet dealership.

The plan to control the water is to build a 1,770-foot wall along the stream's bank.

The project was supposed to be built in 2003, but now, two years after the proposed start date, the state Department of Environmental Protection is about to put out the bids on the work.

Mayor James Brewster said the project had been bound up by bureaucracy. City Administrator Dennis K.E. Pittman said the local government had been working at least since 1998 to stop the flooding.

He said the administration had to find a way to pay for the project, which was estimated to cost $1.8 million in 2002. The city also has been waiting for the specifications to be approved by the DEP, which has now been done, so the project can be advertised and awarded to the lowest bidder.

"He's the single biggest taxpayer in the city," Pittman said of Tom Clark Sr.

The 12.5-acre sales complex is assessed at more than $500,000 and the municipal property taxes for the business are $7,402.04. The dealership's employees also pay wage taxes and the emergency and municipal services taxes.

Councilman Darryl Segina said in the amount of time it has taken to install the flood control wall, "we could have put the whole Tom Clark property up on stilts."

The first flood, in June 1996, damaged more than 100 cars, vans and trucks during a two-day rain when, around 6:30 a.m., the creek breached its banks and floated the vehicles right out of their parking spaces. The flood caused about $1.5 million in damage.

Pittman said during Hurricane Ivan last fall, the water filled the parking lot, but did not rise over the steps into the building, thus sparing the building.

The cars were all fine. Tom Clark Chevrolet employees had driven them to higher ground.