PROJECT INVOLVES EXTENSIVE FLOOD CONTROL WORK IN CITY

The entire Cape LaCroix/Walker Creek flood control project includes one phase for the Cape LaCroix portion, three phases of the work along Walker Creek, construction of a 157-acre dry retention area north of the city, and completion of a recreation trail that will run along the project.

Work along Cape LaCroix Creek, which began in October 1991, runs from Arena Park to just south of Bloomfield Road. Dean Surface, construction inspector for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, said the project is about 98 percent complete.

The one snag is work on the channel behind the old Lowell's building, owned by Charles Blattner. There is a disagreement between the contractor and Blattner over whether the planned channel construction will provide enough support for the building.

Once that problem is worked out, the LaCroix portion should be finished quickly, Surface said.

Work on the first phase of the Walker branch began last October and should be finished in October 1995. Walker Branch begins at the bridge on Good Hope Street near the Auto Tire and Parts building and runs north. The first phase includes replacement of bridges at Independence, the Arby's entrance from Kingshighway, and Bessie Street.

The second phase of the Walker project has been designed and is awaiting approval from Corps officials in Vicksburg, Miss., and should be bid early next year. It will include enlarging the bridges at Broadway and Kingsway.

A third phase, which isn't yet designed, will be the construction of an earthen channel from Kingsway to the Cape Rock and Perryville Road intersection. That project will include the replacement of a bridge at Marietta Street.

Plans also are in the Vicksburg office for the retention site, which will take about two years to construct. The site will include an earthen dam with a concrete spillway and concrete structure that allows the creek to maintain its normal flow.

The retention site is north of Route W and east of County Road 620. The city is in the process of acquiring property for that area now, which will also include an 85-acre park.

Surface explained that the site is designed to be dry most of the time.

"It basically retains the water from the north part of the watershed and discharges it at a reduced rate, so there is less chance of the creek overtopping," said Surface.

Part of the recreation trail was built with the Cape LaCroix portion of the project. But the city is paying costs of constructing the trail south of Bloomfield Road into Shawnee Park and from Arena Park to the retention site park.

Including a trail loop that will be constructed at the retention site, the entire trail will be about 11 miles long. Engineering for the trail is being done by the city engineer's office, and construction should get underway next year and be finished sometime in 1996.

Not only does the trail provide a recreation component to the project, but it also provides access to the creek for maintaining the overall project.

Also as part of the project, 10 homes in the Golliday subdivision off Kingsway, which frequently flooded over the years, were purchased and demolished to make room for channel widening. Residents were moved to other homes.

The city also moved eight mobile homes in Gas Light Village on Spring Street, and purchased a shed from Wolohan Lumber and a brick building owned by Spartech. James Auto Glass on Bloomfield Road and Genex, a welding supplier on Bessie Street, also were moved as part of the project.