East 40th Water Storage Project Update:
This week, Northwest Youth Corps will be at the East 40th site doing invasive weed removal. Blackberry and other invasive weeds are common ladder fuels for wildfire and hamper forest health. Expect to see Northwest Youth Corps on-site July 28-29.
Fencing is in progress around the construction zone on the northeast side of the property. The west and south sides of the property will remain open to the public during most phases of construction. The fencing will remain in place throughout construction (2.5 – 3 years).
During the last week of July, equipment will arrive at the site. Once the equipment arrives, a 24×7 security contractor will be onsite (in a truck parked near the Patterson St. entrance). The security is there to keep equipment safe and is a temporary measure until we have a more frequent presence at the site.
Tree removal will begin in early August. The process to take down, chip and haul wood will take approximately 3-4 weeks. During that time, there will be chainsaw noise, chipper noise, and truck traffic. Work will not begin before 8 a.m. and will be complete by 4 p.m. Monday – Friday.
Approximately 75% of the trees on the site will be left standing. Only the trees in the footprint of the tanks are being removed.
We are keeping all of the downed wood in the community. When possible, we will create snags and leave downed trees on the site for birds and other wildlife to use for nests, nurseries, storage areas, and perching. Other downed trees are being donated to a City of Eugene wetlands restoration project, where they will continue to provide habitat long into the future, and for public use projects in the Southeast Neighborhood and also the City of Springfield.
New information: The tree removal contractor has determined that log trucks will use Hilyard Street to travel to and from the site. Removal of downed trees will take approximately two weeks.
Earthwork will begin mid-September and will last 6-8 months.
This will be a disruptive period of noise and truck traffic.
We will host another neighbor meeting in late summer (date TBD) to discuss construction details and mitigation, including:
- Work hours and workdays
- Noisy work time
- Construction schedule
- Construction mitigation
- Dust
- Noise
- Contractor staging and parking
- Traffic control on Patterson
- Controlled drilling and blasting process and safety procedures
- What to do if there are issues
Access to clean water is vital to our community. EWEB is hard at work making sure safe, reliable water continues to flow even as critical infrastructure ages and new challenges arise.
In the next decade, we plan to construct new water storage facilities near 40th Ave. and Donald St. and replace the water storage systems at EWEB’s College Hill and Hawkins Hill sites. The projects will be built to seismic and contemporary operating standards, providing more than 40 million gallons of resilient, safe water storage.
- Laura Farthing, Project Manager/Senior Civil Engineer
- Jen Connors, Communications Supervisor
- Jeannine Parisi, Customer Relationship Manager
- Wally McCullough, Water Engineering Supervisor