11-10-2011 Intersection re-opens with natural creek, roundabout

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installation of a power supply for one of the most anticipated features: a man-made channel that resembles a natural creek. In wet weather, storm water will run through the channel alongside a multipurpose path from the west along Angela Boulevard before cascading down two waterfalls into the St. Joseph River past a Riverside Trail overlook. In dry weather, a pump will keep a constant level of water flowing through the channel. The amenity is no mere neighborhood embellishment, but an integral part of the first phase of a new trunk storm sewer extending west along Angela Boulevard and Diamond Avenue. The project will reduce combined sewer overflows (CSOs) on South Bend's west side while safeguarding the environment and preserving clean water. The $3.1- million effort is part of the City's federally mandated, 20-year CSO long-term control plan, which eventually will cost $500 million and become South Bend's most extensive public-works project. "This natural looking creek adds beauty, livability and quality of life to our core city neighborhoods for the same dollars it would have taken to solve drainage and combined sewage basement backups with big, deep, buried sewer pipe,"Luecke said. "Our City engineers consulted with neighborhood residents to provide the most affordable and attractive solution at the starting point of the Riverside Trail, while solving critical infrastructure concerns." w - 7 - The open air agitation of storm water in the channel actually helps enhance the water quality before returning it to the St. Joseph River.