American Public Works Association Tours St. Helens Stormwater Project

Project details updated July 31, 2019

At the American Public Works Association's (APWA) 2019 Oregon chapter spring conference, City of St. Helens Engineering staff and Murraysmith Consulting Engineers gave a presentation on the St. Helens Godfrey Park Stormwater Project which was completed in 2017. The conference presentation generated interest among attendees and those who heard about the project but weren’t able to see the conference presentation. The APWA Water Resources Group contacted the City of St. Helens Engineering Division and arranged for a presentation and site tour of the project.

On Wednesday, July 24, several members of the Oregon chapter of the Water Resources Group of APWA visited St. Helens to tour the Godfrey Park Stormwater Project with St. Helens City Engineer and Interim Public Works Director Sue Nelson and Senior Engineer Brendan O’Sullivan with Murraysmith Consulting Engineers.

The site tour gave visitors an overview of the replacement of two undersized and structurally deficient storm sewers in the area of Godfrey Park. It detailed the storm water conveyance improvements in the Godfrey Park ravine, the new inlet structure in the ravine, and new outfall on the Columbia River.

The Godfrey Park Stormwater Project made improvements to a critical, 100-year-old stormwater conveyance system that extended through Godfrey Park, underneath the 45-foot tall roadway embankment on North 2nd Street, the RV park on River Street, two ravines, and out to the Columbia River. The alignment of the old storm sewers were extremely difficult to access and required numerous permits to facilitate construction.

The July 24 presentation discussed the various elements of the project that led to the successful installation of the new 66-inch diameter storm sewer, including preliminary design, funding sources, permitting, utilizing goats to help clear the numerous blackberries in the ravine, trenchless installation techniques such as pipe ramming, and the construction challenges, risk sharing, and risk mitigation strategies the City implemented. Following the presentation, attendees took a tour of the Godfrey Park stormwater facility which began at the ravine at Godfrey Park on North 4th Street and ended at the stormwater outfall to the Columbia River at River Street near the boat launch.