Dove Creek

The master plan of Dove Creek Development, a neighborhood along California’s central coast, called for two vehicular bridges to span a riparian creek. The bridges needed to be placed to span a 100-year flood plain. Cannon Associates modeled the bridges hydraulically as a part of their analysis of the streambed with FEMA and chose Contech vehicular bridges as the solution.

“To comply with FEMA regulations we had to stay above the 100-year water surface elevation and the new bridges had to span the entire creek and wetland area without impacting the riparian creek,” stated Tom Martin, project engineer.

To accomplish this, Cannon engineers determined a change in the flood plain was necessary. With FEMA’s permission, the area of the flood plain where the new bridges would be placed was filled in to provide the required elevation for the structures. Once the site was prepared and the bridges arrived, installation went smoothly.

“We are very happy with Contech and very pleased with the bridge design,” said Martin. “Centex Homes really had the foresight to make the bridges a showpiece. When you drive up to the site, the whole wetland area is very impressive and the bridges are part of that.”