Napa Valley Register -- Officials celebrate groundbreaking of Napa flood bypass

Under bright sunshine Saturday, Napa Mayor Jill Techel celebrated the start of the construction of the flood bypass near the Oxbow, a key piece of Napa’s flood protection project. The bypass channel will carry floodwaters from the Napa River near the Oxbow to the stretch of the river near Napa Creek at the First Street Bridge.

“I’ve been waiting a long time for this groundbreaking,” Techel told approximately 80 guests gathered behind the offices of the Napa County Flood Control and Water Conservation District, where construction workers will soon excavate and haul truckloads of dirt to build the bypass.

“I’ve been talking about the bypass and how important it is since I became mayor in 2005,” added Techel, who also chairs the Flood Control and Water Conservation District.

Also sharing the podium Saturday were U.S. Rep. Mike Thompson, D-St. Helena; U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Brig. Gen. David Turner; Napa County Supervisor Bill Dodd, the district’s vice chairman; and Bernhard Krevet, president of the Friends of the Napa River.

The speakers highlighted the collaboration among local, state and federal officials, including California’s two senators, Democrats Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer, all of whom worked together to make sure the flood control project came to fruition and that the Napa River would continue to flow in its natural path.

Thompson said he was proud to have been involved in the flood protection project since its inception. He was still a state senator when the campaign for Measure A began. Voters approved the half-cent countywide sales tax measure in 1998 to pay for the local share of the flood control project. On Saturday, Thompson praised the people of Napa.

“The Napa community recognized we didn’t need a cement channel and didn’t want a cement channel,” he said. “This is the way these projects should be done … with full participation.”

“This is the textbook perfect model for (U.S. Army Corps) projects,” said Thompson. “And everybody recognizes that from Washington all the way down.”

The ceremony ended with a silent tribute to longtime river advocate Jim Hench, who died in February before Techel, Thompson and the other officials grabbed gold-colored shovels for the official groundbreaking.

Also present Saturday were representatives from Nordic Industries Inc. of Olivehurst, which the U.S. Army Corps awarded the $17.3 million contract in December to build the 13-acre Napa River Dry Bypass with flood walls and lighting. Eventually, the land will be used as a park.

In all, about 150,000 cubic feet of dirt will be moved to Napa Pipe on Kaiser Road, which is expected to remain dry most of the year, said Tyler Stalker, spokesman for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

Beginning in late April, construction workers are expected to haul between 200 and 250 truckloads of dirt a day, said Calvin Barnhill, project manager for Nordic Industries. “This is a good-size job,” he said.

Construction is scheduled to be done in June 2015, according to Stalker.