West Sacramento levee work resumes

Published April 3, 2012

SACRAMENTO, Calif. – The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Sacramento District will resume levee work this week along South River Road in West Sacramento, Calif., after pausing last November for the state of California’s mandated flood season.

The Corps is working with its partners, the Central Valley Flood Protection Board and the city of West Sacramento to complete a setback levee and install a seepage cutoff wall in the levee’s center, further reducing the city’s flood risk.

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

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.

Once complete, the new 15-foot-high levee will be set back 250 feet from the old levee; be 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. Additionally, South River Road will run atop the new setback levee and reconnect to the existing levee at each end.