The City of Newport contracted Civil West Engineering Services to conduct a stormwater master plan for them in 2013. This master plan identified substantial deficiencies in the current City’s stormwater drainage system. The deficiencies identified included the drainage basin with outfalls (2 existing at the time), drainage piping, and several culverts. Due to the deteriorating water quality issues in the existing pipes, Civil West worked with the City’s consultant to apply for and received grant money from SRF to help with the upgrades.

To address the described deficiencies, Civil West designed and managed construction of the Bay-Moore project to include the construction of Diversion Outfall Storm Drain facility, a permanent storm drain system bypass along 4th street, construction of the intersection reconfiguration to increase corner radii to facilitate easy traffic flow, and increase the Embarcadero Outfall Storm Drain facilities.

Civil West also provided all documentation and coordination for permitting including working with NOAA, ODFW, COE and DSL.

Civil West worked with the City to implement a roadway rehabilitation and utility replacement project on Empire Boulevard from Newmark Avenue to Wisconsin Avenue. The project included widening the roadway to provide space for bike lanes, parking, and sidewalks on both sides of the street. Our staff was responsible for all storm drain replacements, which included raingarden features to treat water quality. Planter strips, street lighting, benches, and additional safety improvements were also installed.

This was a unique project since intent was to solve problems created by a previous storm drainage system that was improperly designed. The original design consisted of ribbon curbs on the edge of the road adjacent to ‘infiltration trenches’. These trenches were just planter areas full of drain rock. In many areas of the City, such a design would work, as the infiltration rate of the native sandy soils is very high; however, this particular site is at such an elevation that the groundwater table rises in the rainy season, preventing infiltration and even surging groundwater up through the system and flooding the community. In order to abate this issue, Civil West designed a stormwater conveyance system that used the original design of infiltration planter strips, but with perforated pipe and catch basins that then piped through a series of manholes to a new outfall into Munsel Creek.

Several underground stormwater pipe networks in the south part of Florence converge on a single outfall located on 1st Street. In 2016, it was discovered that this outlet, as well as much of the storm water piping in the roadway, had collapsed and was threatening damage to private property. Civil West designed new storm water piping, and re-routed the flow to another location further south so that a new outfall could be established at a more stable location. These improvements, which included 36-inch diameter PVC piping, with manholes, curb inlets, and pavement restoration, were completed on time, and on budget. Our staff provided cradle-to-grave engineering services, including design and construction administration.