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How to Build a Creek Stormwater Drainage System

Project Name

Fred Creek Drainage Improvements #76

Customer Name
City of Tulsa

Design / Specifying Engineer
Lead Project Engineer Ryan Mittasch, P.E

Block Manufacturer
S.I. Precast - Tulsa

Wall Installer
Crossland Heavy Construction

Project Location
Tulsa, OK

Year Built
2007

Project Scope

When the natural banks of Fred Creek, a storm water runoff channel near the campus of Oral Roberts University (ORU) in downtown Tulsa, began eroding and threatening the stability of the banks and associated utilities, the city needed to stabilize the stream banks while providing an attractive green area for jogging trails and parks.

Inadequacies with the Fred Creek drainage have caused flooding problems on the 263 acre ORU campus for years. With water flowing up to two feet over the top of the flood channel during high water, the channel was no longer adequate to handle the 100 year flood level waters .

The City of Tulsa wanted the contours of the renovated channel to follow the natural slope of the existing channel. The goal was to widen the banks of Fred Creek while following the existing channel as closely as possible in an effort to maintain a more natural look as well as providing a more hospitable environment for wildlife and plants and a safer escape route in the event that a person might fall in.

"We have found in the past on similar projects that the smaller retaining wall blocks just won’t handle the velocity of the water," said Bill Robinson P.E., project manager and then-Senior Engineer in Stormwater Design for the city of Tulsa. "This is one of five projects that are either been done or are under construction in Tulsa right now using Redi-Rock or equal products."

This is the first phase of the project to improve the Fred Creek Drainage. The 9 inch setback Redi-Rock retaining walls stand 18-19 ft. at the tallest point and encompass a total 68,000 sq. ft. Phil Fassler, formerly of Minnessota-based engineering firm Civil Solutions Group and now with Redi-Rock of Kentuckiana, provided the setback layout and transitions between setbacks for the wall design, and Robinson incorporated that into the final wall plans. The project contains both gravity and reinforced walls that are placed atop a concrete footing and are buried five feet on average. The walls are limestone texture, with 15 percent of the face area composed of half-blocks to "break up" the look of the walls.

The second through sixth phases of the $15.25 million Fred Creek Drainage Improvements project are expected to require extensive retaining walls, rip rap, landscaping and new bridge construction. SI Precast is currently supplying blocks for Phase 2 of the project.

Robinson, the project manager for the Fred Creek project, has since been promoted to Lead Engineer for Stormwater Planning for the City of Tulsa. He says the city will continue working with large block retaining walls for their erosion control needs throughout the city.

This project contributed to SI Precast’s honoring in the 2008 Redi-Rock Int. Rocky Awards for Water Application Wall of the Year. SI Precast was chosen for the award based on several water application projects the company completed throughout the south central United States in 2008, including walls on Joe Creek in Tulsa and at the South Fork Pump Station in Texas.

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