Story posted Friday, February 5, 2010
Big Bend Boost
$3.5 Million Freed Up For Flood Control Design Plans
A major flood relief project that will help the Des Plaines and Mt. Prospect area and certain communities to the south received a major financial shot-in-the-arm this week.
Des Plaines officials received word that the efforts of congressmen Jan Schakowsky (D-9th) and Peter Roskam (R-6th) have helped to free up $3.5 million for engineering design work on the Big Bend Lake reservoir project. The money will be used by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to continue design work on the project that will trim anticipated costs from $40 million to $22 million to make it cost effective, said Tim Oakley, Des Plaines' director of engineer and public works.
Work calls for expanding the water holding capacity of Big Bend Lake, which is located adjacent to the Des Plaines River and near Golf and East River roads. In addition, a large pump will be installed in the vicinity of where the river and lake meet. When the river rises during flooding situations, water will be pumped into the lake lessening the danger of flooding downstream. Plans also include widening and deepening the lake and building a berm around the reservoir to hold in more water. Plans at this point call for the berm to be as high as 12-ft., which Oakley said will probably be unacceptable to Des Plaines residents who live on Big Bend Drive near the river and lake.
"The biggest cost of the project is earth excavation," said Oakley. "Originally, plans called for the berm to be three-feet high. People probably won't like a berm that's 10 to 12-ft. tall."
"It's on Cook County Forest Preserve property so they have to buy into it," Oakley continued. "The Army Corps probably needs all spring and summer to complete the design and assuming it's cost effective, then go out for bid."
Oakley added that construction could start in 2011 and take two years to complete.
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