LAST PHASE OF FLOOD-CONTROL PLAN TO START IN SUMMER

Work on the third and final phase of the Walker Branch flood control project is scheduled to begin this summer with channel improvements and replacement of the Marietta Street bridge.

Work on the Walker Branch improvements began in 1993. It is slated for completion in 1998.

The city of Cape Girardeau's planning department is in the process of completing right-of-way acquisitions for the project's final phase.

The channel will be a 75-foot-wide earthen structure with a 14-foot-wide concrete pilot channel to contain the flow of water in normal conditions. The earthen channel will allow for overflow during heavy rain. It will be the first structure of its kind in Cape Girardeau.

The improvements also call for the relocation of electric lines and a sanitary sewer upgrade. The upgrade will mean that less stormwater will flow into the sanitary sewer system.

The first two phases of the project included installing a 50-foot-wide concrete channel from the confluence of Cape LaCroix Creek and Walker Branch up to Broadway and from Broadway to just north of Kingsway.

Bridges at Good Hope, Town Plaza, Themis and Bessie were also reconstructed. Bridges at William, Broadway, Independence and Kingsway were widened.

The improvements were part of the overall Cape LaCroix Creek-Walker Branch Flood Control Project. The goal of the project was to alleviate flash flooding.

"When the city flooded in May of 1986 and we had $56 million worth of damages, the community knew something has to be done," said Ken Eftink, development coordinator for the city.

Voters overwhelmingly approved a one-quarter cent sales tax in 1988 to help finance the project. The tax funds 25 percent of the improvements with the federal government funding the remaining 75 percent.

Work on the project, a joint effort between the city and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, began in 1990.

The four major components of the project called for improvements for the Cape LaCroix and Walker Branch channels, construction of a dry detention reservoir and construction of a hiking/biking trail.

The Cape LaCroix Creek portion was completed in 1994.

Eftink said the overall project, with the exception of the trail, will reduce flood damage similar to what the city experience in 1986 by 70 percent.

The 157-acre dry detention reservoir will be built about one-half mile north of the Humane Society of Southeast Missouri on Route W. Its purpose will be to hold water during heavy rains.

The hiking/biking trail currently extends about one and a quarter miles from Brink Street to Arena Park. The remainder of the trail, from Brink Street to Shawnee Park and from Arena Park to Osage Park, should be completed by the end of the year and will add another two and three-quarter miles.

The eventual goal is to extend the trail to the reservoir, adding another two miles for a total of more than six miles.