Thursday, August 21, 2014

Greenbrier Ditch Cleanout

After unusually heavy rains this winter caused some localized flooding, the city began analyzing our ditch systems for both maintenance and design issues. The first major ditch cleanout project we have taken on is the Greenbrier Ditch. Decades of tree growth and silting in of the ditch had diminished its capacity to hold and move water. The city engaged an engineer to draw up bid specs for removing the vegetation and restoring the ditch channel to its original size. Below are some photos of the progress of this project.  
This photo is taken from the railroad tracks, facing east. This is what most of the ditch looked like before work began. This portion of the ditch will be completed after the portion west of the tracks, which is shown in the remaining photos. 
This photo is taken from the railroad tracks, facing west, and shows the ditch after the initial pass clearing the trees. 

After cleaning out the debris, this is the ditch immediately west of the railroad tracks. This portion still needs to be "mopped out," i.e. have the channel and banks cleaned up and properly graded.
This is near the far western end of the ditch, where the ditch has been restored to its original dimensions and grade. This photo is taken standing at the bottom of the ditch.
This is the same portion of the ditch as shown in the photograph above, except the photo is taken from the bank above the ditch.  

This is the stilling basin where water collects after leaving the Greenbrier Ditch. Work is still ongoing here.