BEE BRANCH

BEE BRANCH. Early maps of Dubuque indicated a creek following the present route of Kaufmann Avenue running easterly to the MISSISSIPPI RIVER. As the city grew, the creek was buried in a storm sewer. As more of the land was covered by impermeable materials such as concrete, less and less water could be absorbed into the ground. Runoff increased leading to "ponding" on roadways and flooded basements. From 2001 through 2013 flooding along the buried Bee Line occurred six times affecting thousands of properties. (1) In 2010 the watershed of this creek included all the land north of Kaufmann Avenue to the area of EISENHOWER ELEMENTARY SCHOOL.

Following a major storm in 1999, the city of Dubuque spent $275,000 for an engineering study called the Drainage Basin Master Plan (DBMP). Completed in the fall of 2001, the DBMP determined that approximately 1,150 homes and businesses were at risk of flood damage during heavy rains.

Engineering studies indicated that to adequately confine the amount of runoff being experienced, culverts five times the size of those in use would need to be installed. A less-expensive alternative was to "daylight" the Bee Branch Creek to a form of its original condition created an attraction to enhance neighborhoods, build on TOURISM, and improve the quality of life. (2) The Bee Branch Restoration Project involved restoring one mile of the creek from COMISKEY PARK to the MISSISSIPPI RIVER. (3) Some water would always be present in the lowest level of the new waterway. When rains occurred, the water would rise to fill a flood zone that was planned to be large enough to reduce the chance of damage to property.

Construction of the first phase, the Lower Bee Branch Creek Restoration Project, started in September of 2010. (4) The $57 million project was to restore the creek with a linear park and reduce storm-water flood damage to an estimated 1,155 properties. (5) Sustainability considerations were encouraged as homes were deconstructed rather than demolished and materials salvaged. Construction of all phases of the Bee Branch Project were scheduled to be completed by Spring of 2013.

In March 2012 residents of Dubuque's North End were informed they would need to wait another year before the Bee Branch Creek Restoration Project would be complete. The estimated cost of $17.1 million in 2001 with 70 properties needing to be purchased had risen to $57 million with an estimated 100 properties likely to be acquired.

The U. S. Environmental Protection Agency awarded the City of Dubuque a Land Use and Water Quality Workshop through the Building Blocks for Sustainable Communities program. The workshop was intended to provide technical assistance to the city in identifying land use strategies to protect water quality and manage storm-water and land use in the Bee Line watershed.(6)

Complications in acquiring railroad property under which the storm water channel would flow and the hope of a longer construction cycle would lead to lower bids led the City to revise its completion schedule. Part of the complications arose due to dealing with changing railroad ownership. In 2007 when the negotiations began, the City was negotiating with the IC & E. The DM & E took over in 2008. In 2010 the City had to restart the process with the Canadian Pacific.

In 2014 one portion of the Bee Line Restoration Project under budget was the creation of "green alleys." Reconstruction of an estimated 240 alleys with paver brick increased the amount of water that could enter the soil avoiding runoff. An estimated 15% of the project funding came from homeowner assessments. In 2014 the average assessment for all alley projects was $848.76.

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Sources:

1. Carstens, Laura. "Building a Watershed Ethic Through the Bee Branch Creek Restoration Project," Julien's Journal, April 2013, p. 42

2. Ibid.

3. Ibid.

4. Ibid.

5. Ibid.

6. Ibid., p. 43

City of Dubuque website

Televised interview with Deron Muehring, Engineering Department.