San Antonio, Texas
The aesthetically pleasing drainage channel incorporated aquatic depressions, seen
above, providing habitat for aquatic wildlife.
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Military Ditch #65, City of San Antonio
The Military Ditch #65 improvements project, a $7 million City of San Antonio effort, runs from the
north side of Zarzamora Street to north of Pyron Avenue. The project involved the redesign
of an existing channel section of Six Mile Creek from a proposed concrete-lined channel to
a more “eco-friendly” channel that would improve stormwater conveyance and help eliminate
flooding in the area.
V&A provided sustainable civil engineering design services to eliminate flooding in a
southwest San Antonio neighborhood and, in the process, created a visually appealing
drainage channel and a new habitat for aquatic plants and wildlife. The improved
drainage channel uses natural materials such as grass, brushes, trees, and water
features to provide an environmentally friendly habitat for fish, plants, and other
aquatic wildlife. The new channel design also incorporated aquatic depressions, meandering
pilot channels, limestone block side slopes, and an earthen bench for trees to meet the
Nationwide Permit requirements of the Army Corps of Engineers.
V&A provided complex hydraulic design using HEC-1 and HEC-RAS to compute peak stormwater discharges
and resulting water surface elevations and to properly size the channel to accommodate a 100-year
storm event. In addition to the natural improvements to the channel, V&A also designed culvert
expansions at all street crossings and four 60” reinforced concrete pipes to bore underneath the
existing railroad tracks and provide flood relief to the adjacent single family subdivision. V&A
provided coordination and permitting with Union Pacific Railroad, Storm Water Pollution Prevention
Plans (SW3P), Traffic Control Plans (TCP), and a construction program in accordance with the
requirements of the City. This fast-track design project was completed in just over 3 months.
The original proposed design for Military Ditch #65 was a continuation of the concrete-lined
drainage channel seen here.
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V&A’s design utilized natural materials in lieu of concrete, including the limestone
block side slopes seen here.
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V&A’s design included four 60” reinforced concrete pipes to bore underneath the existing railroad
tracks and provide flood relief to the adjacent single family subdivision.
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