Restoring Function to Boneyard Creek, Urbana IL

The City of Urbana, IL intends to recapture an urban amenity by transforming Boneyard Creek, which runs through its downtown. Like many Midwestern streams, Boneyard Creek was channelized in the early 20th Century, and downtown Urbana was developed largely with its back to the creek, which was viewed as a drain of questionable value. Recently community groups have encouraged the City to use restoration of the creek as a focal point for a downtown revitalization effort, and in 2007 the City of Urbana chose the team of Wenk Associates and HNTB to develop and implement a master plan for that purpose. Within downtown Urbana Boneyard Creek consists of 2500 feet of inset open channel, the upstream half consisting of a 21-foot wide flat concrete floor and 8-foot high vertical sheet pile walls. Downstream of this the channel bottom is "natural" and the banks are reinforced by rock-filled gabion structures. Although the creek sits within a 50-foot wide drainage easement, adjacent properties are fully developed and numerous utilities run along and across the creek alignment. In March 2008, Wenk and HNTB completed the Boneyard Creek Master Plan. This plan would replace two stretches of the existing sheet pile walls and concrete bottom with a new cross-section consisting of a concentrated low-flow channel (width of 5–10 feet) and banks rising at 5:1 to 3:1 slopes up to meet existing grades. Similarly, a portion of the existing gabion-reinforced channel reach would be replaced with a low-flow channel and laid-back banks. The "natural conditions" vegetated channel banks would be managed to support native prairie grasses and other herbaceous vegetation (with only occasional trees and shrubs), to maintain adequate conveyance during high flow events. The improvements to the creek would be designed in coordination with the development of public spaces within the creek corridor and the establishment of a network of pedestrian and bicycle connections.