A river obstacle no more

It's happened more times than the retired prison guard cares to remember in his 23 years in the low-lying Payran Street subdivision near the Petaluma River.

So Cheney was relieved Wednesday when the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers began the last phase of a $40 million flood-control project by plucking an abandoned railroad trestle from the river. It has been obstacle that would clog with debris during a rain storm, spilling water onto streets.

"I'm going to sleep better knowing that trestle is out," said Cheney, who lives in one of 600 residential and commercial buildings in the area. "If it wants to flood my house now, this old guy will get in his car and drive away."

Under sunny skies, large cranes on both banks dismantled the 1920 Southern Pacific Railroad trestle, lifting 15-ton sections of the wooden top. They also planned to pull about 30 creosote-soaked wooden piles.

Excavation of the channel will follow, along with installation of steel sheet pile.

Corps of Engineers and city officials looked on, pleased to be completing a project that has stretched out more than two decades, largely because of funding delays.

"This is a huge step forward," Petaluma Mayor Pam Torliatt said. "It will provide us with a level of flood protection the citizens have expected."

Petaluma sought the flood-control project after the river jumped its banks in a 1982 storm, causing $28 million in damage to homes and businesses. Floods have occurred an average of every six years since, ending in the New Year's flood of 2006, which caused $50 million in damage elsewhere in the city.

Residents lobbied then-Congresswoman Barbara Boxer to get federal money, and the project was authorized four years later, in 1986.

The Corps of Engineers tackled the project in five components, each funded separately. In earlier phases, the Corps widened the channel between the Lakeville Avenue and Payran Street bridges, lined the banks with steel and built a weir to divert flows.

The last $3.2 million was approved by Congress earlier this year with support from Congresswoman Lynn Woolsey, D-Petaluma, and Boxer, now a U.S. senator.

Jay Kinberger, the Corps' project manager, said the bridge removal brings the flood control system to full capacity as the rainy season approaches.

"That trestle bridge slowed down the water," Kinberger said. "By removing it, we're taking away the last impediment."

Contractors will build an alternative rail spur to replace the bridge, connecting Dairymen's Feed & Supply Cooperative to the main line, said Michael Ban, the city's director of water resources and conservation.

However, a moratorium on development upstream of the weir is not expected to be lifted until a city analysis of the causes of the 2005 flooding is complete. The ban is in its second year.

Meanwhile, residents like Cheney said removal of the trestle is a good sign. Cheney has grown weary of what seems to be a winter ritual of heavy rains followed by a visit from police warning him to leave his house.

"It should have been fixed a long time ago," Cheney said.

You can reach Staff Writer Paul Payne at 762-7297 or paul.payne@pressdemocrat.com.