The Broad Branch stream restoration began in February, and Linnean Playground project started a few months later. Now, both projects are nearing completion, and a date has been set – to celebrate.
Steve Saari manages both projects for the District Department of the Environment, and he has an announcement to make:
Oct. 18th Grand Opening of Broad Branch and Linnean Playground Streams Restoration
On Saturday, October 18th from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., the Forest Hills Connection and the District Department of the Environment will host a grand opening event for the community. There will be brief remarks by dignitaries, some ceremonial tree planting, a demonstration of stream monitoring by District youth, and a tour of the project area.
Over the last seven months, the District Department of the Environment (DDOE) has been working to restore these two streams. The Broad Branch had been piped for over 70 years, and the Linnean stream that had become highly degraded due to high volumes of stormwater coming from rooftops, driveways, sidewalks and roadways. The work on these two projects is substantially complete, with the bridge taking Broad Branch stream under 36th Street now open.
There’s only one major task remaining: the completion of a culvert to carry one of the streams across Linnean Avenue.
Currently, there is a temporary culvert installed across Linnean with steel plates in place over the pipes. That work should be completed by the contractor as soon as permitting agencies sign off on a change to the design of the culvert, which takes the location of water and gas lines into consideration.
In addition to this major task, the contractor has to complete a “punch list” of smaller corrections to the projects before they will be entirely done.
Since this time of year is generally considered to be the driest, parts of the stream may be dry except during rain events. However, DDOE expects that as the water coming into the area raises the ground water table, the stream will have flow throughout its length 365 days a year. Let’s hope that we get a long soaking rain prior to the event so that water will be flowing along the entire stream!