Located at the confluence of Walnut Creek and North Walnut Creek, the University Boulevard Neighborhood in Clive, Iowa, has experienced millions of dollars in damage from repeated flooding. The City of Clive seeks to fortify the neighborhood against future floods while laying the foundation for a more active, vibrant community.
Using a “managed retreat” approach, the city plans to remove or relocate buildings and infrastructure from areas of highest flood risk and implement a set of cost-effective, nature-based solutions that create flood resilience while cultivating environmental, social, and economic conditions that incentivize reinvestment in the neighborhood. As part of a consulting team, Barr is helping the City of Clive complete its Project Scoping Plan.
Building upon previous planning efforts, the Project Scoping Plan will further refine implementation strategies and designs for achieving the city’s goals. Barr performed hydrologic and hydraulic modeling to inform preliminary designs to re-meander Walnut Creek after the removal of flood-prone structures. As designed, the re-meandering will improve the ecology of North Walnut Creek, increase floodplain connectivity, and incorporate stormwater treatment to improve the quality of creek inflows.
Our preliminary designs will accompany technical resources—such as cost estimates to support a benefit-cost analysis—and implementation strategies in the Project Scoping Plan that will support future project funding applications.
