FLOOD07170 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I 4. BEAR CREEK HYDROLOGY 4.1. Watershed Description The Bear Creek (BC) drainage basin is located in southwestern Colorado Springs, EI Paso County, Colorado (Figure 4.1), Bear Creek which flows in an easterly direction and eventually enters Fountain Creek is the major drainageway of the basin, The Bear Creek basin consists of two distinct regions: (1) an undeveloped and mountainous region above Gold Camp Road, and (2) a foothills basin below Gold Camp Road, The steep upper region consists of coniferous forest, below Gold Camp Road, the basin includes open space, commercial, and residential land uses, Open space is primarily steep hillsides with pinon, juniper, and scrub oak trees, Basin area is approximately 10,7 square miles, with the average stream slope above Gold Camp Road being 9 percent and 2 to 5 percent below. Four major roadway crossings exist over Bear Creek: (1) Interstate-25, (2) 8th Street, (3) 21st Street, and (4) Gold Camp Road, Each of these crossings create a spreading of the f100dway due to the limited capacity of each overpass, The surrounding areas in each of these regions could sustain potential damage caused by floodwater created at the structures, 4.2. Previous Studies Previous studies available for review include Flood Insurance Study by FEMA (Ref 2,1) and the Master Drainage Planning Study developed for the City of Colorado Springs by Kiowa Engineering Corporation (Ref, 4,1), This report was generated for the City's Department of Planning and Development to determine current and future hydrologic and hydraulic aspects of the basin, Table 4.1 summarizes the peak flows determined at the confluence with Fountain Creek and Gold Camp Road, respectively, 4.3. Hydrologic Analysis The Master Drainage Study was reviewed in detail and it was concluded that the discharges estimated within it are valid and should be used in further analysis, Table 4,2 summarizes the discharges to be used for the restudy reaches, 4,1 Resource Consultants & Engineers, Inc.