Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, February 6, 1991 TAG: 9102060405
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JOEL TURNER MUNICIPAL WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The funds will enable the $34 million project to stay on schedule, according to a spokeswoman for Rep. Jim Olin, D-Roanoke.
"This is right on target. That is all the Army Corps of Engineers says it can spend in the next fiscal year and what they asked for," she said.
The corps expects to award the major construction contract during the summer of 1992, and plans to seek about $8 million in federal funds for the project in the fiscal 1993 budget.
Congress appropriated $2.3 million for the project in the current fiscal year.
The city's share of the cost is $14 million, and the federal share is $20 million. Olin has said he's confident that Roanoke will get the rest of the federal money.
City voters approved a $7.5 million bond issue to help pay the city's share. The remaining $6.5 million in city funds will come from several sources, including earlier appropriations and land donations.
The flood-reduction plan will involve widening the channel and building flood walls at several places along a 10-mile section of the stream. It also includes 4.6-mile bicycling and jogging trail.
Construction on the channel widening and flood walls will not begin until 1992. But work may begin this year on replacing two low-water bridges on Wiley Drive that will be financed mostly with city funds. The project is scheduled to be finished in 1995.
The first element in the plan was completed recently when rainfall and stream gauges were installed for an early flood-warning system.
The corps says the project would have prevented six of Roanoke's 15 worst floods, and eight others would have been less severe.
by CNB