The Watery Ways of Westerly Creek
![3.15.RestoringWatersheds.Westerly Creek Map](http://greaterparkhill.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/3.15.RestoringWatersheds.Westerly-Creek-Map-218x300.jpg)
A Potential Template for Park Hill
Watersheds are Mother Nature’s geographic setting for collecting and distributing stormwater.
In Park Hill there are two primary watersheds: Montclair Creek Watershed and the Park Hill Basin. Immediately east of the Park Hill Basin is the Westerly Creek watershed. Given historic watershed restoration work in the Westerly Creek watershed, and work currently underway, we might look at Westerly Creek as a possible model for future restoration in the other two watersheds.
Picture Park Hill as a rectangle, with I-70 and Colfax Avenue and I-70 as the northern and southern boundaries, and Quebec Street and Colorado Boulevard as the eastern and western boundaries. Delineate the primary watershed boundary in Park Hill as a line roughly from the intersection of Monaco and Colfax to the intersection of Colorado and MLK Boulevard. The area to the northeast is in the Park Hill Basin, while the area to the southwest is in the Montclair Creek Watershed.
The map above at left shows lines representing streams and tributaries that form the drainage networks in these watersheds.
Prior to 2015 a few key steps had already been taken. First was the major stream daylighting (or uncovering) of Westerly Creek, at Lowry and at Stapleton. In 2011 two master plans addressed the potential for a connection from Lowry to Stapleton. The Urban Drainage & Flood Control District (UDFCD), a regional flood and storm drainage agency in the Denver metro area, conducted an engineering analysis and conceptual design in Aurora and Denver. A separate Greenway Master Plan from 11th Avenue to Colfax, was approved by Denver’s City Council.
With those steps as a backdrop, 2015 will be a year of enormous changes in the big picture. The map above at the right zooms in on the portion of Westerly Creek from its confluence with Sand Creek (at Stapleton) upstream to the outlet of Westerly Creek Dam (at Lowry), and beyond, to the intersection of Havana and Alameda, where the stream lies underneath in a buried pipe.
Three current construction projects are shown on that map:
Project 1 — Restoration construction has just begun: Stream channel restoration is starting for the Uplands Park at Stapleton, extending upstream from the confluence of Westerly Creek with Sand Creek to 33rd Avenue. This Denver Parks project includes dealing with potential toxic materials that may have been buried as part of historic airport operations.
Project 2 — Open channel already restored, maintenance in progress: UDFCD is sponsoring a channel maintenance project to modify channel banks after damage from the September 2013 flooding. The work extends from 29th Avenue upstream to 26th Avenue.
Project 3 — Restoration construction has just begun: Stream channel restoration and realignment has started from 23rd Avenue upstream to Montview Boulevard. The realignment will allow Aurora Water to replace undersized culverts with a new bridge on Montview Boulevard. The bridge will reduce significantly the risk of flooding to private properties in Aurora south of MontvIew. The existing open channel, currently entirely within Denver Parks property at Stapleton, will be realigned to meander much more from Montview to 23rd, sometimes in Aurora and sometimes in Denver.
Next month, I’ll look at three more projects, currently at various points in the planning and design process. In the not very distant future, you will see construction start on each of them. I’ll also discuss how these individual greenway projects can be woven together into a cohesive watershed-based greenway system.
Brian Hyde is an expert in floodplain management and stream restoration. He wants your feedback at westerly_connect_brian@comcast.net or 720-939-6039.