FLOOD00850

• Designation Number: 31
• County: Arapahoe
• Community: Unincorporated Arapahoe County
• Title: Major Drainageway Planning - Little Dry Creek, Report, Volume I
• Date: 2/1/1974
• Designation Date: 6/1/1974
• Floodplain - Doc Type: Floodplain Report/Masterplan

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Little Dry Creek in Greenwood Village. Upstream from Belleview to Orchard

Road, the creek winds through lush grassed reaches, short reaches with

heavy brush on the banks, park-like reaches with mature tall trees, and

open prairie reaches. No significant flow obstructions exist. The chan-

nel is well-defined and only a few small flood plains have formed at creek

bends. In Greenwood Village the channel is crossed by one street ford, an

aerial sewer line, and three bridges, counting the triple box culvert on

Belleview Avenue. Village officials have indicated a preference for keep-

ing the channel in a completely natural condition.

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Little Dry Creek in Arapahoe County. Beginning at the line of extension of

Orchard Road, the channel is confined in a narrow, deep, wooded ravine.

With present conditions, runoff from a lOO-year storm could nearly overtop

a 67-foot long aerial sewer line spanning the ravine even with the existing

l2-feet clearance.

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The Highline Canal crosses under the Little Dry Creek waterway in a con-

crete structure. The structure forms a 6l-foot wide broad-crested weir

over which Little Dry Creek waters fall into a plunge pool. The dry-

weather flow falls 12 feet vertically, but backwater effects during high

runoff would reduce the fall so that only a large standing wave would

form at the structure. There are several barbed wire fences in the water-

way. They would be broken by floating debris during any large flood flows.

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Above the Highline Canal and approximately 1,000 feet east of a line of ex-

tension of Colorado Boulevard a new bridge has been built. It is within a

l,200-foot reach of the channel recently straightened and reshaped for the

Medema Homes development. Erosion of the soft soil of the newly excavated

channel is severe since no vegetation has begun to grow to protect the soil.

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From the housing development to the confluence of the creek with Willow

Creek the channel winds back and forth across open, weedy flood plains.

Over half the length of the channel is overgrown with extremely dense wil-

low growths 5 to 6 feet high. The willow thickets act as collectors of

flood debris as well as obstructing the channel.

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