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City of Norfolk awards $11.6M contract for new water management solutions

Posted at 3:38 PM, Aug 15, 2017
and last updated 2017-08-15 15:44:07-04

NORFOLK, Va. – City of Norfolk awards $11.6 million contract to Arcadis to protect Ohio Creek communities against future flooding.

“The city selected Arcadis not only because it’s staffed with experts who understand the unique nature of our flooding challenges and bring innovative and sustainable ideas to the table, but because they believe in what we are trying to accomplish — a resilient coastal community for the future,” said Scott Smith, Coastal Resiliency Manager for the City of Norfolk

The city received a $115 million grant to transform the Ohio Creek Watershed. The grant follows a winning application to the Department of Housing and Urban Development for funding through its $1 billion National Disaster Resilience Competition

As Ohio Creek Community residents continue to battle flooded streets and sidewalks, the city office of resilience selected Arcadis to design several water management solutions.

  • Developing a heightened shoreline protection system to prevent high river waters from spilling into neighborhoods and flowing into the stormwater system.
  • Minimizing shoreline erosion by creating a living shoreline, using rock breakwater and vegetation to decrease wave energy during coastal flooding events while providing ecological habitat and recreational use, such as fishing.
  • Raising of several roadways to ensure access to the neighborhood during storms and to keep approximately 450 homes out of the path of flood waters.
  • Capturing and storage of rainfall via residential rain barrels and rain gardens to slow its flow to the stormwater system and subsequently reduce drainage system overflow and flooding.

This isn’t the first project of it’s kind for Arcadis. Arcadis has also worked on flood protection projects in New York City, San Francisco’s Mission Creek and New Orleans.

The design phase of the project will run through December 2018 with construction activities scheduled to begin in March 2019.