Breaking News…

Progress Report Now that twelve different flood repair and capital project contracts are in various stages of completion, keeping track of progress is quite a task.  In an effort to make the information about each contract and the project as a whole more understandable, this chart was developed. Please click here to view the Progress Report.

A Surge of Progress

At last, we have momentum! Canal repair and improvement projects are

Underway or
Out for bid or
Nearly ready to be put out for bid.

Project Area: Easton to Groundhog Lock (aka Theodore Roosevelt Recreation Area) in Raubsville
Action:  Flood damage to the canal prism and towpath is now being repaired by Popple Construction.

	Popple Construction at work on the canal prism south of Easton. Photos taken May 20, 2008.

Project Area: Palmer Fish Ladder on the Lehigh River; Lock 24, Weigh Lock, and Fish Ladder in Easton
Action: Reconstruction and adjacent dredging is currently being done by BiState Construction.

The cost of the Popple and BiState Projects is $10.8 million, which is funded by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

Project Area: New Hope at the Delaware River inlet to Lower Makefield Township
Action: Bids will be opened on April 17, 2008 for repair of the canal prism and towpath.

Project Area:  Wy-Hit-Tuk Park in Williams Township to Indian Rock Inn
Action: Bids will be opened on April 29, 2008 for repair of stop gates, waste gates, a footbridge, and other structures.

Project Area: Lock 5 in Yardley Borough to Ferry Road in Lower Makefield
Action: Bids will be opened on April 29, 2008 for replacement of the culvert at Black Rock Road and dredging.
This project will be funded through the PA Capital Budget.

Project Area:  Raubsville to Bridgeton Hill Road in Upper Black Eddy
Action: The State has projected that bids will be opened in May 2008 for repair of the canal prism and towpath.

Project Area:  Lock 14 in Point Pleasant to Bowman’s Hill in Solebury Township
Action: The State has projected that bids will be opened in May 2008 for repair of various locks, wastegates, and other structures.

Project Area:  Bridgeton Hill Road in Upper Black Eddy to New Hope
Action: The State has projected that bids will be opened in June 2008 for repair of the canal prism and towpath.

Project: Rocky Falls Stop Gate in Williams Township
Action: The State has projected that bids will be opened in July 2008 for repair of the structure.

Project: Riegelsville Stop Gate
Action: The State has projected that bids will be opened in August 2008 for replacement of the structure.

Project: Lock 12 in Lumberville
Action: The State has projected that bids will be opened in September 2008 for the lock reconstruction.

All of the projects listed with the exception of the Black Rock Road culvert replacement and dredging will be funded by FEMA and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. The contracts for the canal prism and towpath repair projects allow for the work to be done in 360 days or less; the structure contracts have a 270-day length.

On March 11th, Tom Williams and Susan Taylor from the Friends traveled to Harrisburg to meet with the Delaware Canal State Park Legislative Caucus. The purpose of the trip was to ask the legislators to help streamline the State’s internal funding process for the upcoming flood repair projects. A full six months elapsed between the time that the successful bidders for the Easton projects were chosen and the time that the funds were made available to PA Department of Conservation and Natural Resources so that Notice to Proceed could be issued to the contractors.  Typically, the length of time should be 90 days.  

Senator Chuck McIlhinney, Representative Marguerite Quinn, and Representative Scott Petri, who attended the Caucus meeting personally, promised to convene a meeting with the Secretaries of the Department of General Services and the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources to hammer out a way to ensure that future projects aren’t unduly delayed. 

May all these projects, as well as all the others that are on the books, have wings. Come to the Friends’ General Meeting on May 13th  to hear Rick Dalton provide more details about what’s happening in the Delaware Canal State Park.

# # #

Goal–A More Stable Core and Surface

If you’ve had the opportunity to examine any of the towpath bank blowouts along the Canal, you will have seen that the canal bank was built simply of earth and stone. To try to make the canal  more flood resistant, the engineers from DCNR’s Bureau of Facility Design and Construction have devised a reconstruction plan that involves installing a stable core material within the bank, providing a liner that is more reliably impervious than clay, and then laying down a trail surface that will be less prone to erosion.

In the areas where the towpath bank has been totally washed away, the construction specifications call for the installation of stacked gabion baskets that will serve as a core. A gabion is a wire mesh basket, about 3 feet high by 3 feet wide by 6 feet long that is filled with stone. Gabions act like building blocks. 

To repair a blowout, first a layer of large stone will be put down as a base. Then gabions will be laid side by side along the length of the blowout. Another layer can be added on top if needed to fill the void. Several feet of dirt will be used to cover the baskets, then a layer of geotextile material called bentomat will be put down. The bentomat, which functions more reliably than clay, will extend from the bottom of the canal prism up and over the towpath area to the far side.  Another layer of dirt will be placed on top of the bentomat.

 The towpath trail surface will be “stabilized turf.” It consists of 85% stone aggregate mixed with 15% topsoil seeded with a special non-clumping grass. The stabilized turf will not be as smooth as the argillite gravel trail, but will hold together better in a flooding situation.

Bentomat and stabilized turf were used for the David Library towpath bank repairs in 2004 and 2005, and the gabion/ bentomat/ stabilized turf solution was used for the repair of a 100-blowout south of Easton in 2006. The materials and methods seem to be working.