CAPE FLOOD CONTROL PROJECT PROGRESSES, OVER HALF FINISHED

The Cape LaCroix Creek-Walker Branch Flood Control Project should be completed two years before the quarter-cent sales tax passed to fund it expires, city officials say.

The tax, passed by voters in 1988, will expire Dec. 31, 1999.

The Army Corps of Engineers will open bids today for what city officials call phase II-B of the Walker Branch Project. Phase II-B calls for construction of a concrete channel between Broadway and Kingsway, next to Burger King and Choctaw Park.

Other phases of the project included creating a concrete channel for Cape LaCroix Creek and the Walker Branch, which runs east of and parallel to Kingshighway. Those phases essentially are completed, but David Lah, a city engineer who is liaison between the city and the Corps, said detail and cleanup work remains for some of those phases.

"They're still working on the Good Hope bridge and filling in some places," Lah said.

The last two phases of the project -- clearing Walker Branch from Kingsway to the intersection of Cape Rock Drive and Perryville Road and creating a dry retention reservoir north of Boutin Drive -- will be completed by late 1997, city officials said.

They said the Corps oversees the project. The city's role is to acquire needed rights of way and pay for 25 percent of the project's cost.

"It's costing the city about $10 to $12 million," said Ken Eftink, the city's development services coordinator.

Construction companies with contracts for different phases of the project are clearing a channel for the rapid flow of an increased volume of stormwater to eliminate flooding that plagued the Town Plaza and other areas along Kingshighway during downpours. Before the project began, trees and debris slowed the flow of water.

"I've talked to several people who said it's already made a big difference," Lah said. "Since they started the project, the channel can hold more volume and the water can flow faster."

By the time the project is complete, Lah said, a hiking and biking trail will be built connecting Shawnee Park in the 1400 block of South West End Boulevard and the reservoir north of Boutin Drive. He said grant money will be used to construct bridges and underpasses for the trail.