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Evansville to repair collapsed creek walls

EVANSVILLE — Last summer's flooding caused several areas of the creek walls in Lake Leota Park to wash out and collapse, but soon they will be fixed.

Portions of the 1930s walls of Allen Creek already were in rough shape, creating a dangerous situation for those enjoying the park, City Administrator Dan Wietecha said.

The city started repairing the walls a couple of years ago by offering a free workshop to train residents how to construct dry stone retaining walls. Master masons from the Dry Stone Conservancy in Lexington, Ky., taught the course, and the hope was to train residents who eventually would continue the work, Wietecha said.

It turns out, that's what happened.

Kendall Wethal of Urban Landscaping in Evansville attended those workshops and recently won the bid to repair three sections of the creek walls this summer.

Two other companies—the Kentucky business and one in Milwaukee—bid for the project, but Wethal's was the lowest at about $28,200.

Of the three sections to be repaired, two are immediately downstream of the spillways and the third is farther downstream, for a total of about 100 feet. The plan is to not have the work conflict with the city's Fourth of July festival in the park.

It took some time to get all the approvals from the state and Department of Natural Resources, as well as getting a portion of the costs paid through the Federal Emergency Management Agency, Wietecha said. The city only pays 12.5 percent of the project because FEMA pays 75 percent while the state picks up 12.5 percent, he said.