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Trackhoe working at Glenwood whitewater park?

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4K views 15 replies 10 participants last post by  Gelatto 
#1 ·
End of last week and this week I have been seeing work being done on the north side of the river. It looks like just bank work but curious if there is more going to happen to this site.
Also rumors are going around about the city bidding for a new feature. Any updates would be appreciated.
 
#4 ·
I dropped by and spoke to the work crew there. They are repairing the bank above the high water line on both sides of the river over the next few weeks. They are not changing the feature at all. I asked them politely if they could let one large rock roll into the water just above the boat chute on river right, which I feel will improve the feature, but they politely declined. They made it sound like they were miffed they hadn't gotten the original contract and were not in a mood for freebies. I have been considering heading over at some point and seeing if there's a suitable rock that might abide some pushin'.

As of the Glenwood Wave meeting in October there were not concrete plans to bid on a new feature. There is however some talk of making a pedestrian footpath under the bridge on river left so that flushed surfers can get back without crossing traffic near the bridge. This path would then connect to the trail system downstream of the bridge and open the conversation for a new feature downstream of the bridge since foot access would now be installed.
 
#5 ·
Hmm. change of plans apparently. Check it out: glenwoodwebcam.com

Moving major rocks on that side well into the river. Stopped by in person and its appears beneficial. They are building up the rock bar that is just upstream of the wave creating cement blocks. Should push more water towards the rocks and hopefully make it functional at lower flows. Unsure of the impact on high water action, but I think the idea behind the whole project is to improve the eddy on that side in order to reduce the foot traffic over the bridge downstream, which is a major priority for the city.
 
#6 ·
Unfortunately it will have significant impacts to the wave at high flows and wont have any effect on the eddy situation when people are crossing the road bridge. What the City and REP are doing right now is sacrificing the wave under the guise of reducing pedestrian trafic when the flows that these two situations occur don't even coincide. When the flows are 18,000 cfs plus the rock wing they are construction will be 8 feet underwater. Your tax dollars at work right now. :confused:
 
#7 ·
Just talked to the man at the helm of the backhoe for about an hour. It's still underway so don't judge it just yet. I told him people were going to be pissed if the high water wave was disturbed or the low water boat chute wave was ruined. After being there in person and talking it over, it seems to me its going to be OK.

First, there's no in river change on river right. So everything over there is same and completed.

There's a new little peninsula on river left, but it will be underwater at about 2k-2.5k. The area hard river left downstream of the wave/hole is cleaned up and deeper. The changes there should serve as a nice little eddy and a pinch point to get the deep end a little more accessible and a little more wave-y at lower flows by pinching more water in there. Rebuilding the gap in the rockwork that used to be on river left has already raised the upstream water table, so the boat chute wave should be better at a lower flow band.

The upper bank on river left is going to be coming back basically the way it was, with hopefully a little tiny jetty sticking out on river left upstream of the feature. Hoepfully this will create a better eddy at flows between 5k and 10k. What effect this will have on the deepend wave/hole at those flows remains to be seen. I am a little concerned about this section. I'm hoping that a little curler hole forms river left and sucks you easily into the main action, and that the river centerish stuff remains unchanged.

At flows above 10k I don't think we are going to see any change. And thats good since its fine the way it is. Yes, it would be nice if you didn't have to hike it, but what are you willing to risk to see this happen?

If you have anything to say post it here tonight and I can see that your comments are communicated before its too late. They are expecting to finish the lowest areas tomorrow.
 
#9 ·
Projecting change or no change at this time is speculative. That being said however, you stated that the gap between the first (far left) precast concrete block and the wing has been filled. This is what has raised the backwater over the drop. That jet is precisely what made the green shoulder on the far river left (playboaters right) side of the wave work so well at high flows. Filling in the jet will create similar froude numbers at that position as compared to the precast block rather than the lower froudes that existed prior. the result is that the corner of the wing will blend more to the concrete getting rid of the green wave. Weather this translates to good, bad or indifferent remains to be seen but one thing we can say for sure is that it will be different. keep your fingers crossed. Do you remember the time they fixed Lawson?
 
#13 ·
It's definitely pretty scary to mess with a feature people are fundamentally pretty happy with. After getting a "what do you think?" I was pretty much no help at all. And unless it starts snowing like mad soon, we won't know how higher water performance has been effected until 2014.
 
#16 ·
Whitewater Park Trackhoe Work

Tom Barnes of the Glenwood Springs Recreation Dept says the workers at the Glenwood Springs Whitewater Park are doing shoreline maintenance. The high water of 2011 undercut both banks here. (It also buckled parts of the concrete bike trail in Glenwood Canyon.) The crews now are rebuilding and stabilizing the terracing on each side of the river. The trackhoe operator thought he would improve the eddy on the south side and moved some boulders around in the water. But this is beyond the current permitted work, so the rocks had to be returned to their original positions. They expect to be done this week. The next project is to create a pedestrian path on the south side of the river under the bridge. During that work, there may be the opportunity for moving boulders to improve the eddy.
 
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