It’s well known that the City of Marysville and its critical infrastructure have experienced extensive and repetitive flooding in the past. That’s why the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and its partners, the California Central Valley Flood Control Board and Marysville Levee District, have been working since 2010 to upgrade the 7.6 miles of levee that surrounds Marysville, including its population of more than 12,700 residents and the region’s largest hospital, Rideout Memorial.
The $153 million dollar effort is being completed in four phases, and is scheduled to be complete in 2024. $88M has been spent for all phases to date. Additionally, non-federal sponsors have provided in-kind services and over $1.5M in additional funding.
The Corps of Engineers is currently wrapping up work south of Twin Cities Memorial Bridge. Here crews excavated a section of the waterside embankment in order to construct a half-mile-long seepage cutoff wall in the levee to help prevent seepage from going through or under the levee. They’re now reconstructing the embankment with an impervious slope blanket that will help prevent erosion of the levee. This work is part of the project’s second phase, which also included levee improvement work completed last year just north of Twin Cities Memorial Bridge.
In 2020, the project’s third phase will see work shift to the eastern border of Marysville, constructing similar levee improvements from Jack Slough Road down to Highway 70. This work is expected to take four construction seasons (April 15 - October 31) to complete. And the fourth phase of work will connect each of the first three phases by closing the gaps between the constructed levee improvements, completing the flood risk management improvements around the city.
The first phase, between Jack Slough Road and Marysville High School was completed in 2013, and construction at Binney Junction was completed in 2017.
For more information on the Corps’ Marysville Ring Levee project, you can visit www.spk.usace.army.mil/Missions/Civil-Works/Marysville-Ring-Levee