Centennial Trail Work Ok’D County, At&T To Pay $366,000 To Repair Flood Damage In Valley

Wed., March 8, 2000

By Adam Lynn adaml@spokesman.com

Work crews soon will repair a stretch of the Centennial Trail clobbered twice by flooding in the 1990s.

Spokane County commissioners gave their blessing Tuesday to a $366,000 plan to shore up the trail along the Spokane River between Flora and Barker roads in the Valley.

Repairs could begin as soon as next week, said Francine Boxer, county administrator.

That section of the popular recreational pathway first was damaged by high waters in 1996.

The county and federal government spent $74,000 to repair the damage, only to see the trail washed out by floodwaters again the next year.

The county spent another $7,000 in 1998 to repair enough of that damage to keep the trail open, but the underlying problems remained: The bank is unstable and the pavement is susceptible to being washed out in another flood.

Last May, officials erected sandbag barricades, at a cost of $5,000, to protect the trail from rising waters.

The plan approved Tuesday calls for rebuilding 2,000 feet of eroded riverbank with boulders and other rocks, covering it with soil and an erosion-control fabric, then planting native vegetation to hold the dirt in place.

The county will pay $115,000 of the cost. The remainder will be paid by AT&T, which has a fiber-optic cable under the trail in that area.

Workers used similar techniques after the 1996 flood, only to see the repairs obliterated by high water the next year.

Commissioner Phil Harris said Tuesday he is skeptical the plan would work this time. “I hope we’re not throwing good money after bad,” he said.

Harris wondered why the county couldn’t build some sort of impermeable barricade to protect the trail from erosion.

State regulators want the county to implement the current proposal, said Bob Hughes of the county Parks and Recreation Department.

The back-to-back floods in 1996 and 1997 were a fluke, Hughes added.

“Given enough time for the plants to mature, there is a high probability that this will work,” Hughes told commissioners Tuesday.

If the plan doesn’t work this time, county parks officials may consider rerouting the trail away from the river in that area or building a boardwalk to carry the trail over the threatened stretch.

This sidebar appeared with the story: Floods

This section of trail was damaged by high waters in back-to-back springs: 1996: $74,000 spent on repair.

1997: $7,000 spent on repair.

New project: $366,000 to rebuild 2,000 feet of bank.

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