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<br />in flood hazard. For purposes of the NFIP, a floodway is used as <br />a tool to assist local communities in this aspect of flood plain <br />management. Under this concept, the area of the lOO-year flood <br />plain is divided into a floodway and a floodway fringe. The flood- <br />way is the channel of a stream, plus any adjacent flood plain <br />areas, that must be kept free of encroachment so that the 100-year <br />flood can be carried without substantial increases in flood heights. <br />Minimum Federal standards limit such increases to 1.0 foot, pro- <br />vided that hazardous velocities are not produced. The floodways <br />in this study are presented to local agencies as minimum standards <br />that can be adopted directly or that can be used as a basis for <br />additional floodway studies. <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />The floodways presented in this study were computed on the basis <br />of equal conveyance reduction from each side of the flood plain, <br />The tributary streams to St. Vrain Creek are generally steep and <br />severely encroached on by urban development. Further encroach- <br />ment or conveyance-ability reduction would result in increased <br />velocities above already-hazardous velocity conditions. Hazardous <br />velocities are considered to be average overbank velocities in <br />excess of 2 to 3 cfs. Between cross sections, the boundaries were <br />interpolated. In cases where the floodway and 100-year flood plain <br />boundaries are either close together or collinear, only the flood- <br />way boundary has been shown. Because the floodway for Dry Creek <br />No. 1 was contained within its channel, no floodway is shown. <br />The floodway boundaries for Spring Gulch are shown on the Flood <br />Boundary and Floodway Map. The results of these floodway computa- <br />tions are tabulated at selected cross sections for Spring Gulch <br />(Table 2). No flooding is shown for Lefthand or St. Vrain Creeks <br />in the City of Longmont as a result of the latest analyses of these <br />drainages. <br /> <br />Many factors affect the determination of the encroachment limits <br />on each stream, including sand- and gravel-mining operations, over- <br />topped bridges, development within the flood plain, and divided- <br />flow conditions. TO determine the final floodway boundary at each <br />cross section, characteristic velocities were considered, along <br />with encroachment limits that cause no more than the maximum 1.0- <br />foot rise in the flood height. Where appropriate, an equal degree <br />of encroachment was permitted on each side of the main channel. <br />The degree of conveyance reduction on each side of the channel was <br />determined by hydraulic limitations. <br /> <br />The area between the floodway and 100-year flood plain boundaries <br />is termed the floodway fringe. The floodway fringe encompasses <br />the portion of the flood plain that could be completely obstructed <br />without increasing the water-surface elevation of the 100-year <br />flood by more than 1.0 foot at any point. Typical relationships <br />between the floodway and the floodway fringe and their signif- <br />icance to flood plain development are shown in Figure 10. <br /> <br />17 <br />