Bob Lokteff, PE, GE recently presented at the 2019 GeoSymposium and Field Expo about Zoned Levee Design on the Southport Early Implementation Project (Southport EIP). The symposium was a two-day, professional development event hosted by the Sacramento chapters of the Association of Engineering and Environmental Geologists (AEG), American Society of Civil Engineers Geo-Institute (ASCE G-I), and Earthquake Engineering Research Institute (EERI).

The West Sacramento Area Flood Control Agency’s (WSFACA) Southport EIP project consisted of about 6 miles of improvements to mitigate seepage and stability deficiencies associated with a 100-year-old levee along the Sacramento River. The levee was considered the highest risk component to the flood control system surrounding West Sacramento, and the highest priority project to protect its 53,000 residents. The project plan included a new setback levee to create valuable habitat restoration land between the old and new levees and cost-sharing benefits with the California Department of Water Resources (DWR). However, setback levee construction would require cost prohibitive import of nearly 1.4 million cubic yards of fill.

In his presentation, Bob described how Blackburn worked with the design team, WSAFCA, United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), DWR, Central Valley Flood Protection Board, Reclamation District 900, and a Board of Senior Consultants to engineer a zoned levee using local soil in a way that met USACE seepage and stability criteria,  and could be constructed with available funds.

Read more about this neat project and our unique design solution here.