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WICKENBURG, Ariz. — Construction is progressing on a comprehensive flood control project to reduce flooding hazards and eliminate the floodplain for more than 100 property owners along Sol's Wash through downtown Wickenburg.
The Wickenburg Downtown Flood Hazard Mitigation Project, managed by the Flood Control District (District) in cooperation with town officials, is centered on an approximately one-mile section of Sol's Wash from upstream of the proposed U.S. Highway 93 Interim Bypass Bridge to approximately 1,600 feet upstream of the Tegner Street bridge. The project includes an additional 250-foot segment on Hospital Wash located immediately north of the Hospital Wash/Sol's Wash confluence.
Construction on the project began in September 2007. As of the first week in April 2008, the District’s contractor had completed the majority of the channel excavation work, including clearing existing vegetation and debris from the wash channel. New wash bank protection was installed upstream (west) of Tegner Street, and the Cavaness Street crossing of Hospital Wash is almost complete. Subsequent construction will begin soon downstream (east) of Tegner Street along Coffinger Park.
The flood control components of the project will provide protection during a 100-year flood event, an event which has a one-percent chance of occurring in any given year. Construction crews are excavating the Sol’s Wash channel, removing vegetation to increase the water flow capacity of the wash, and replacing existing wash bank protection with newly engineered rock-and-wire bank protection and floodwalls.
The project will also allow the Arizona Department of Transportation's proposed U.S. Highway 93 Interim Bypass roadway embankment to be constructed as a levee to contain the Hassayampa River floodplain in the area.
Sol's Wash and the Hassayampa River have historically been significant flooding hazards within Wickenburg. In October 2000, for example, stormwater exceeded the banks of Sol's Wash and flowed over Tegner Street, flooding homes east of Tegner Street and also Coffinger Park.
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