In April 2010, the Santa Clara Valley Water District began work on a segment of a larger project to improve flood channel capacity that would protect nearly 7,500 properties from a 100-year flood, an event that has a 1 percent chance of occurring in any year.
The area in this project extends nearly a half mile from Interstate 280 to the Union Pacific railroad crossing, downstream of Willow Street. Laying in the most northerly portion of the larger scale Upper Guadalupe River Flood Protection Project, the water district identified the stretch as Reach 6 and is the first flood protection project utilizing local dollars from the voter-approved Clean, Safe Creeks and Natural Flood Protection Plan.
Since 1982, the Guadalupe River has flooded five times, most recently in 1998 and more notably in 1995, when flood waters submerged 150 homes near Alma Avenue and Virginia Street. The project can potentially save millions of dollars in flood damage and void the need for homeowners to carry flood insurance upon completion of the entire Upper Guadalupe River Project.
What’s new?
The water district is pleased to say that the Reach 6 project is estimating completion by summer 2012, having reached several important milestones. It widened the floodplain channel, extended by 100-feet the West Virginia Street bridge and will soon complete planting in the upland areas.
Homes in the Reach 6 area, however, will have to wait some time before being removed from a flood zone designation. The entire Upper Guadalupe River project must see completion before the water district and city of San Jose can proceed with the revision of (FEMA) flood maps. This is because overbanking flooding upstream still impacts Reach 6.
The US Army Corps of Engineers was to design and construct the remaining five mile portion of the project, extending from the upstream of the railroad crossing to Blossom Hill Road. But economic conditions have impacted construction of these last miles, with expected federal funding to match local Clean, Safe Creeks special parcel tax dollars in jeopardy. The water district is working closely with representatives in Congress to recoup those funds to keep the project ontrack. Pending available federal fund, the Corps anticipates completing the Upper Guadalupe River by 2021.
Questions?
For more information about the Reach 6 project, contact Senior Project Manager Ngoc Nguyen at 408-265-2607, ext. 2632. For comments or concerns, contact Neighborhood Liaison Tony Mercado at 408-265-2607, ext. 2343.