West Sacramento levee work buttons up before rainy season

Published Oct. 20, 2011
SACRAMENTO, Calif. – The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Sacramento District will conclude this year’s construction of a setback levee along South River Road in West Sacramento in mid-November.

The Corps is working with its partners, the Central Valley Flood Protection Board and the City of West Sacramento, to temporarily restore the levee’s height prior to the rainy season.

“The levee was degraded during construction,” said project manager Dave Cook. “Now, we’re going to raise the levee up to where it needs to be, pause construction for the rainy season and start back up again next spring—that’s when we’ll complete the setback levee and install a seepage cutoff wall in the levee’s center.”

The project is a joint effort between the Corps and the Flood Protection Board to strengthen levees along the Sacramento River and its tributaries, a part of the Corps’ Sacramento River Bank Protection Project.

South River Road from Marina Green Drive to Linden Road will continue to be limited to police, fire and levee patrols until the project is complete in November 2012. Road closure and no trespassing signs will be posted, and detours for residents will be clearly marked.

When finished, the new levee will be set back 250 feet from the old levee and will be 15 feet high; 2,200 feet long, and have a 75-foot-deep seepage cutoff wall in its center. The design is intended to widen the river channel to hold more water during a flood or storm event, while preserving the wildlife habitat between the old levee and the river. When the project is completed, South River Road will run atop the new setback levee and reconnect to the existing levee at each end.
Contact
Tyler Stalker
916-557-5100
tyler.m.stalker@usace.army.mil

Release no. 11-030