Spillway for Cape's detention basin close to completion

It's one of the most significant structures in Cape Girardeau both in terms of size and importance, but you would never know it was there.

The nearly completed emergency spillway for the Cape Girardeau detention basin is immense, but hidden beyond a seldom-traveled path off Route W near the Humane Society.

"It's kind of out here like a quiet giant," said Bill Vaughn, Cape Girardeau's development services coordinator who oversees the detention basin project for the city.

The concrete base of the spillway is five and a half feet thick. The spillway is 100 feet wide. A levee that stands 43 feet from top to bottom would detain water in a 150-acre reservoir. A 54-inch concrete pipe runs underneath the 210-foot base of the levee, which would allow floodwater to escape into Cape La Croix Creek at a controlled pace.

This giant has been designed to protect the city from the Cape La Croix watershed, which takes in water from a 23-mile area, and the Walker Creek floodplain. The detention basin is the third phase of a stormwater control project that cost $40 million and took about 11 years to complete. The detention reservoir phase, which has been ongoing since 1997, cost an estimated $4.5 million.

Even while it was under construction, the quiet giant flexed its concrete and earthen-levee muscle this spring, protecting areas of the city that have suffered huge monetary losses due to flooding in previous years.

On May 13, the city saw 3.61 inches of rain pour down on soil that was already saturated.

Vaughn said the detention reservoir worked because the concrete ditches along Kingshighway rose to a certain point and stopped, indicating that water upstream was being held as designed.

Rodney Bridges, owner of Garber's men's clothing store at the Town Plaza, remembers a day when such a reservoir could've saved him a $100,000 headache.

"How could I forget," said Bridges, who has owned the store for 30 years but did not have flood insurance. "It was a nightmare. I get chills even thinking about it."

He said he saw the plaza get flooded three times, but only one day -- May 15, 1986 -- did it damage his merchandise. During a 24-hour period, Cape Girardeau was pounded with 6.64 inches of rain.

"It was right before Father's Day and critical for our business," he said. "Anything within 26 inches of the floor level was soaking wet. It was pretty devastating."

Damage in the west end of Cape Girardeau was estimated at $75 million.

Bridges said this year's spring rains reminded him of the 1986 downpours.

"If that flood project had not been in effect, we definitely would have had as much or more water in the store," Bridges said. "We're very excited about the completion of the basin north of Cape."

Dean Surface of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has partnered with Vaughn in overseeing the project since its beginning.

He said the construction work should be completed by the end of this month. Some miscellaneous duties will still need to be completed, such as planting turf to prevent erosion on the levee.

The only construction unfinished is the Ogee section, a five-foot concrete bump that will allow a smooth flow of the water if it ever tops the spillway.

Twenty-five percent of the project was paid for with a quarter-cent capital improvement tax from 1980 to 1990. The federal government funded 75 percent of the cost.

The first phase of the project was the flood control ditches in the Cape La Croix Creek area south of Bloomfield Road upstream to Arena Park. The second phase included the Walker Branch area from Kingshighway to Cape Rock Drive and Perryville Road.

Park location

Eventually, some of the area near the basin could be used for park space.

Dan Muser, Cape Girardeau's park director, said the area could have picnic shelters and playground equipment as well as walking or hiking trails.

Muser said that would be a long-term plan, especially considering the city's current situation with revenue.

bmiller@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 127