LOS ANGELES – The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Los Angeles District signed a design agreement to move forward with the LA River Ecosystem Restoration project at a recent meeting with city officials.
The agreement was formally presented to Gary Lee Moore, Los Angeles city engineer, and Carol Armstrong, executive officer to the Los Angeles Deputy Mayor of City Services, during a Jan. 19 LA River site visit with Corps senior leaders, including Lt. Gen. Todd Semonite, commanding general of the Corps; Brig. Gen. Pete Helmlinger, commanding general, South Pacific Division; and Col. Kirk Gibbs, commander of the Los Angeles District.
“Today marks an important civil works milestone for the Los Angeles District as we continue to strengthen our partnership with the City of Los Angeles,” Gibbs said. “We look forward to working with the city and moving this important project forward into the design phase.”
The project proposes restoration measures in and along an 11-mile stretch of the river to reestablish scarce riparian strand, freshwater marsh and aquatic habitat, while maintaining existing levels of flood risk management.
Habitat connections will be reestablished at major tributaries within the river's historic floodplain and to regional habitat zones of the Santa Monica, San Gabriel and Verdugo mountains.
The plan will restore about 719 acres by widening the river in key areas using terracing and restructuring channel banks to support vegetation, create side channels and off-channel marsh, daylight small streams and remove invasive vegetation. Associated recreation features include trails, vista points, educational amenities and pedestrian bridges.
Total estimated cost of the project is $1.4 billion. The design agreement will allow the District to begin the preconstruction, engineering and design phase of the project. The first project feature is scheduled to be awarded for construction in fiscal year 2022.