Santa Barbara County Public Works Project Honored Twice with Public Project of the Year

SANTA BARBARA, Calif., Feb. 9 -- Santa Barbara County issued the following news release:

Prior to this severe winter storm season, the Santa Barbara County Flood Control District, in partnership with Caltrans and Union Pacific Railroad (UPRR), completed capacity improvements to reduce flooding along Las Vegas and San Pedro creeks under Calle Real, State Route 101 and UPRR as part of the Las Vegas/San Pedro Creeks Capacity Improvement Project in Goleta and Santa Barbara. The Project increased capacity of the two creeks from a 10-year to a 25-year runoff event under Calle Real and State Route 101, and increased capacity to a 100-year runoff event under the UPRR.

The multi-agency project was completed with significant public investment of about $30 million from the County and Caltrans. Responding to the imminent threat of future flooding, the County Flood Control District and Caltrans designed, managed and funded construction of three major projects along the creek corridors.

The project is located in the County's Second Supervisory District, for which Supervisor Janet Wolf said, "The project demonstrates prudent use of available resources, dedication and successful collaboration with Goleta, Caltrans, Union Pacific Railroad, and the nearby residents and land owners. I consider this a successful project and partnership that benefits the entire community."

Prior to the project, heavy rain events in 1995, 1998 and 2000 caused both creeks to overflow. The neighborhood and businesses upstream of State Route 101 and Twin Lakes Golf Course downstream of UPRR were subject to significant flood damage. State Route 101 had been closed several times due to flooding. State Route 101 is a critical transportation facility for the County, especially during flood emergencies, for moving equipment, material and general emergency response. The project also removed barriers to steelhead migration along San Pedro Creek.

Since the project's completion, it has been awarded Project of the Year Award from two leading trade organizations. The American Public Works Association California Central Coast Chapter awarded County Flood Control and Caltrans with the 2015-2016 Project of the Year in the category of structures with a cost above $15 million.

A new honor was received last week from the California Counties Architects and Engineers Association (CCAEA), which has selected the project for its 2017 California Medium County Project of the Year Award. As one of three counties receiving awards, Santa Barbara County was selected based on a five-part evaluation of criteria that included project benefits and community/employee enhancement, cost saving measures, aesthetics, sustainability, innovation, creative funding and public-private partnerships. In addition, the award jury also chose to bestow the project with its "Jury's Award," an honor they have only issued once in the four year history of the awards program. The Jury cited complexity, quality of design and environmental sensitivity as some of the reasons for the award, which will be formally presented at a conference in April.

Benjamin Matray, President of CCAEA said, "This project represents the best that public sector engineers and project managers do every day for their communities and we are delighted to bestow this award in recognition of their efforts."

For information about Santa Barbara County Public Works and its Flood Control District, go to www.CountyofSB.org.

93RSwain-5776902 93RSwain