Officials To Break Ground Thursday on New Flood Wall

ALEXANDRIA, VA — The Fairfax County Department of Public Works and Environmental Services will hold a groundbreaking ceremony at 10 a.m. Thursday to mark the start of construction on the Huntington Levee. The ceremony will take place near the entrance to Huntington Park, at the end of Liberty Drive, near the Arlington Terrace intersection (5601 Liberty Drive, Alexandria - see map below).

About 160 homes, built in the 1940s and '50s, prior to current regulations, are located in the Cameron Run floodplain. The Huntington community is susceptible to flash flooding from heavy rainfall upstream and tidal surges from the Potomac River.

Major floods have inundated the low-lying neighborhood three times since 2003, most recently in September 2011, when remnants of Tropical Storm Lee delivered record rainfall in a short period of time.

The $40 million project includes the construction of a new levee and pumping station to protect the Huntington community from Cameron Run's floodwaters. Fairfax County citizens approved a bond to fund the project in November 2012, which allowed the county to continue the design of mitigation measures developed by the Army Corps of Engineers in a 2009 study.

The levee will help mitigate flooding of houses from the types of storms that have happened in the past. However, it is not designed to offer protection from flooding caused by storms that are greater than a 100-year event (a storm that has a 1 percent chance of occurring in any given year).

Planning and design began in 2013, and construction began in February. The project, barring any major weather delays, is scheduled for completion in 2019.

Project Description

The levee, a 2,800-foot long earthen embankment that would be 6 to 11 feet tall and topped with a 4-foot-high concrete wall, will begin west of Fenwick Drive and run eastward to the Riverside apartments. In addition:

• The width of the base will range from 43 to 68 feet, depending on the height of the levee.
• The levee will be 18 feet wide at the top of the embankment and include an eight-foot wide asphalt trail.
• A new pumping station will be built near the east end of the levee.
• New storm drains will be constructed to connect existing storm drains to the pump station.
• The project includes the construction of about 4,800 feet of recreational trails and the renovation of nearby Farrington Park.

Arcadis U.S. designed the levee and managed the extensive federal, state and county permitting requirements, and Archer-Western Contractors won the bid to build the project.

For questions about the project, call 703-324-5800, TTY 711, or email huntingtonlevee@fairfaxcounty.gov.

Release: Fairfax County Department of Public Works and Environmental Services

Image: Concept for the Huntington Levee and pumping station