Woody Channel is the major overland storm water relief for the east side of the City of Grande Prairie. With a basin size over 1400 hectares it also catches rainfall from a large portion of County lands. Historically this channel has had poor drainage due to low slopes and poor crossing conditions causing siltation issues that were affecting the City’s upstream storm water infrastructure. Additionally, the capacity of the ditch was in question which was a concern due to recent plans for development adjacent the banks of the channel. This project included the upgrading of the channel from Resources Road south-east to 68th Avenue crossing. One of the difficulties with this project was dealing with very low slopes where the channel bed conflicted with a sanitary trunk main at two separate locations. In addition to grading issues, the implementation of possible future regional storm retention within the channel itself was proposed and implemented by Ian Ketchum to eliminate the loss of land for external ponds.

Some of the project highlights are:

• Design and construction inspection of approx. 3500 meters of an engineered drainage channel.
• Design and construction inspection of several Alberta Environment approved stormwater outfall structures, and flow restrictions.
• Design and construction inspection of a 78.5m long CN Rail auger crossing.
• Calculations and recommendations for a Woody Channel Levy.