THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, April 18, 1996 TAG: 9604160153
SECTION: NORFOLK COMPASS PAGE: 05 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JANE HARPER, CORRESPONDENT
LENGTH: Medium: 57 lines
The construction equipment, dirt and orange barricades that have become unsightly fixtures along The Hague's defining Smith's Creek soon will be cleared away - at least for a while.
The nearly yearlong project to replace sections of the creek's failing concrete bulkhead should wrap up by the end of the month, said Steven Snyder, head of the structural and waterfront facilities bureau in Norfolk's Public Works Department.
The work is the second of a three-phase project of improvements in The Hague, the historic and cozy community near downtown that includes some of Norfolk's largest homes. The first phase, Snyder said, encompassed storm-drainage work along Mowbray Arch and the restoration of a concrete ballister - a sort of decorative handrail - at Stone Park. The park, on Olney Road, marks the entrance to Ghent and Stockley Gardens.
The third phase, expected to begin next summer, will include further replacement of the aging bulkhead. Snyder said stretches of the creek bank that will be rebuilt at this time are those that extend from the pedestrian bridge to the foot of the Chrysler Museum, where the creek ends. The work can't begin, however, until funding is obtained from the city's stormwater capital program, he said.
The second phase, now nearly completed by Precon Construction Co. of Norfolk and its subcontractors, included a new and wider sidewalk along the creek, where jogging and strolling is popular. Grass was replanted along the creek and about 10 new trees replaced ones that were removed during waterfront construction, Snyder said.
The bulkhead has been losing its battle with age, storms and the tides for years, Snyder said. Efforts to repair it piecemeal did not last long, he said, and a study determined later that it needed to be completely rebuilt.
The first phase of the project cost $277,000 and the second $1.2 million, Snyder said. The third phase is expected to cost about $2 million, he said.
The replacement is just one of many upgrades the city has undertaken to maintain the creek since it was created in 1922, said Grover Franklin, a retired city map maker who now serves as historian for the Norfolk Historical Society.
The creek has silted in over the years and has been dredged several times to clear it, Franklin said. The bulkhead, which was wooden in some sections years ago, has been touched up and reconstructed many times, too.
The bulkhead was built with stone from an old drydock at the Naval Shipyard in Portsmouth, Franklin said. The creek, once called Glebe Creek, got its current name from a draper named Smith who once owned the land along its curved path in the heart of Norfolk, he said.
The creek once had several branches and extended as far east as Princess Anne Road, near Monticello Avenue. But it was filled in over the years to allow development and growth, Franklin said. by CNB