Search this Chehalis River Council site!The Chronicle, 2/22/2005
Flood control sometimes seems to be mission impossible for the Chehalis River Basin in the Twin Cities area.
If it isn't one thing getting in the way of something substantial ever being done, it's something else.
It has been seemingly countless studies, changes in plans, public opposition, lack of money and so on during more than 30 years. In the meantime there have been three record floods on the Chehalis - in 1972, 1990 and 1996 - causing huge damage to public and private property in the Twin Cities area. And there have been a number of intervening floods that although they were of less magnitude, also caused damage.
There is no telling when the next major flood may occur, but odds are high there will be more such floods and there's no question that some major flood control work is needed to alleviate potential damage.
At last week's meeting of the Chehalis River Flood Reduction Project Executive Committee there was very discouraging news for flood control plans for the area. First, it was reported that because of less available federal money, which is essential for any significant project, there is much less chance for funding of the planned $100 million system of new and reinforced levees and Skookumchuck Dam alterations for flood control. Wouldn't you know it -just as the parties involved with flood control finally reach at least a preliminary consensus on what should be done, prospective money dries up, at least for now.
Second, it was disclosed that a location near the confluence of the Chehalis and Skookumchuck rivers at the Mellen Street-Interstate 5 interchange is an archaeological site that may be eligible for the National Register of Historic Places. The site has been found to contain human artifacts 14 feet under the old Centralia wastewater treatment plant.
The site's prospective eligibility for the National Register is based on its "capacity to yield data useful for addressing chronology, paleoenvironments and prehistoric resource usage patterns for an interval of at least 6,000 years of prehistory," said a report by Cascadia Archaeology.
Preservation of the site could have very serious ramifications for flood reduction efforts in the Twin Cities and, in turn, for the cost of widening 1-5 from the current four lanes to eight lanes. If flooding in the vicinity isn't significantly reduced, the 1-5 widening would very likely have to include raising the freeway as well, which could add hugely to the costs and further delay a project that is already years away.
Don't forget that the 1990 and 1996 flooding inundated 1-5 between Chehalis and Centralia, closing the route for days at a huge economic cost in disrupted and delayed commerce and business.
Placement of the site on the National Register would apparently preclude construction of a bypass at a nearby narrow chokepoint on the Chehalis at the Mellen Street Bridge, just to the west of 1-5 and the archaeological site. The bypass could otherwise be part of the overall flood reduction plan for the area.
Further, preservation of the site could greatly raise the cost of widening 1-5 at the Mellen Street interchange, including construction of a new Mellen Street bridge.
Flood control and 1-5 widening plans may well have to be altered on the assumption the archaeological site will get permanent protection. Local officials, to their credit, are taking a realistic approach as a result.
"We want to make sure we have a prudent (flood reduction) project that can actually be achieved," said Larry Keeton, Lewis County's chief of staff, at the flood reduction panel meeting. "It's pretty clear we'll need to work out a game plan," said Bart Gernhart, project development engineer for the state Department of Ecology's Southwest Washington region, regarding the archaeological site relative to 1-5 widening.
Meantime, the lack of federal money for flood reduction is a vexing problem. It seems the feds will pay one way or another. If I-5 isn't protected from flooding, when widened it would need to be raised, at a lot of extra cost to the federal government.
In reflecting on all of this, one wonders how much money could have been saved, and flood damage avoided, if all the money spent on flood control studies over the decades had been put toward simply improving and extending the levee system in the Twin Cities - years ago.
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