Aaron Smith, senior dam safety advisor with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, interacts with the audience attending the April 16 town hall to discuss upcoming construction for the Whittier Narrows Dam Safety Modification Project in Pico Rivera. (U.S. Army Corps of Engineers photo by Shawn Davis, USACE Los Angeles District Public Affairs)
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers launched its first offensive in preparing Pico Rivera residents for the start of construction of the Whittier Narrows Dam Safety Project, a $735 million initiative to strengthen the dam and protect the more than a million people living in its shadow.
Construction is set to begin in the fall with completion anticipated by 2033.
Mayor Gustavo Camacho listed the concerns his city is facing when construction begins this fall, from heightened traffic, to dust, security and noise.
““Yes, this impacts this entire region all the way down to Long Beach, but we in Pico Rivera are the ones that are impacted the most, so we’ve been trying to figure out, ‘How do we make us whole now?’” Camacho said, adding city leaders have been working with federal officials in Washington, D.C. and California since 2008 on short and long-term remedies.
Among the project’s impacts: the closure of Streamland Park, home of the Pico Boys Baseball League for 70 years; as well as Bicentennial Park and a city golf course, as well as the loss of access to the southern road leading to the city’s iconic Sports Arena, a major venue for concerts, charreadas or Mexican rodeos, and charro camps and classes.
“The loss of Streamland Park, the loss of the golf course, the loss of access to the sports arena, those are the impacts, and we continue to fight for those dollars to relocate Pico Boys in particular,” Camacho said.
Col. Andrew J. Baker, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Los Angeles District commander, speaks with Mayor Gustavo V. Camacho and city manager Steve Carmona before the start of a town hall at Pico Park in Pico Rivera on April 16. About 60 residents heard news on the upcoming construction for the Whittier Narrows Dam Safety Modification Project in Pico Rivera, California. (U.S. Army Corps of Engineers photo by Shawn Davis, USACE Los Angeles District Public Affairs)
City manager Steve Carmona said city staff are working with the Sports Arena operator and the Los Angeles County fire department to explore ways the essential community asset can continue to operate it at a certain capacity.
“What that capacity is, we’re not sure yet until we analyze it with the fire department, create some other alternative traffic and parking plans, which we’re doing right now,” Carmona said. “But the goal is to keep it open.”
The Whittier Narrows Dam Safety Project was greenlit in 2016, when the Army Corps classified repairs to the 69-year-old dam as “urgent, and very high-risk.”
While stressing that the dam continues to provide flood-risk protection, Col. Andrew J. Baker, commander of USACE Los Angeles District, said the urgency came from two factors: that more than 1 million people are downstream from this most urban of dams, including $200 billion in property in that area. Portions of Montebello will also be affected by construction.
The second reason, Baker said, “was given the age of the dam and the increased likelihood that it could fail, not that it will fail. It’s very important to remember that it continues to perform as it was designed.”
Col. Andrew J. Baker, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Los Angeles District commander, speaks with community members attending the April 16 town hall in Pico Park which focused on the upcoming construction for the Whittier Narrows Dam Safety Modification Project in Pico Rivera. (U.S. Army Corps of Engineers photo by Shawn Davis, USACE Los Angeles District Public Affairs)
Aaron Smith, USACE dam safety advisor for the dam, said while there is no immediate risk with the dam, the work needs to be done to prepare for big storms on the horizon. And while the Corps apologizes for the road closures, park closures and hardships residents will see in the next five or six years, Smith said it would not apologize for fixing a structure that protects lives.
“This is an investment in a piece of infrastructure that has allowed L.A. County to develop the way it has today along with four other dams (that make up the Los Angeles County drainage system),” Smith said. “Our mission, our sole focus, is to protect your lives by doing this project. We want to make sure that you and your children and your grandchildren, and all your neighbors and all their relatives receive the same benefit that this dam has provided you guys for years.”
During construction, portions of the Rio Hondo and San Gabriel River trails that cross over the Whittier Narrows Dam, as well as associated multi-use trails and bike paths, will be closed. There will be temporary lane closures or shifted lanes on Rosemead Boulevard and Lincoln Avenue, and other traffic control measures such as signs and reduced speeds will be enforced.
Construction work will also be limited to business hours from Monday through Friday.
That the Whittier Narrows Dam is dry most of the year doesn’t take away its value, Smith said, since it does its job when rains come.
“Dams protect you from storms you didn’t even know you needed protecting from. This dam has kept floods out of your homes, in your neighborhood, in your city without you even knowing. This dam is here for storms that haven’t occurred yet and I want to make sure this dam does the same thing when those storms show up.
“I appreciate you suffering the impacts that you’re going to have to suffer so that this dam can keep doing things for you, and I acknowledge that those impacts will create some wounds and make your life harder, and I apologize for that.”
Representatives from the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure’s Subcommittee on Water Resources and Environment took a tour of the Whittier Narrows Dam in Montebello, on Friday, March 6, 2020. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers released plans to spend $393.2 million on the Whittier Narrows Dam as part of its Dam Safety and Seepage program. (Photo by Trevor Stamp, Contributing Photographer)
The loss of Streamland Park for the duration of construction is a wound Raul Aguirre feels acutely.
The longtime Pico Rivera resident, 87, took the oldest of his six sons to the home of the Pico Boys Baseball League in 1969, and didn’t retire from that baseball life until 2000, after four grandsons, and two great-grandchildren picked up their bats.
“It hurts,” Aguirre said about losing the park. “I worry about so many kids who won’t have anywhere to go. I know it will be back, even if it won’t be the way it is today. I know work on the dam is necessary.”
About 60 people attended this first town hall. A second meeting is set for May 7.
USACE project manager George Sunny said the dam team welcomes questions and conversations, adding even before the first construction vehicle rolls into the city, an impressive collection of experts have already been working on the project.
“This is a national level team of people that were asked specifically to come on board. They are leveraging their skill sets in a lot of different areas and a lot of different parts of the country because this project is so important,” he said.
For more information, visit https://wndsafetyproject.sec.usace.army.mil/.