NORTH ROYALTON, Ohio -- The city will pay a North Olmsted company $251,180 to restore and stabilize a stream bank and curb flooding along Big Creek at Sprague Road and Thornhurst Drive.
Leach Excavating is expected to start construction near the end of April, North Royalton City Engineer Matthew Glass told cleveland.com last week.
Glass said the contract with Leach gives the firm 120 days to complete the work, “but I’m hopeful that it will take closer to 90 days tops.”
The Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District (NEORSD) is covering the entire cost of the project through its Community Cost-Share Program, which helps pay for local stormwater management initiatives.
It’s the second stream bank-stabilization and stormwater-management project over the past few years at Sprague and Thornhurst.
The first project was completed in early 2024 at the southeast corner of Sprague and Thornhurst.
NEORSD paid Tri Mor Corp. $672,900 to replace and enlarge a culvert/pipe through which Big Creek flows under Sprague, the borderline between North Royalton and Parma.
Tri More also removed a second, shorter culvert downstream in North Royalton, which allowed expansion of the rain-absorbing floodplain.
Native trees and shrubs were planted at the southeast corner of Sprague and Thornhurst.
North Royalton and Parma both contributed $35,000 toward the culvert project. The two cities co-own the new culvert and will maintain it together.
Glass said this latest project is similar to the first.
In addition to stabilizing the Big Creek bank on the west side of Thornhurst, Leach Excavating will make the slopes less steep so that they can be more easily maintained.
Also, workers will demolish a vacant house at the southwest corner of Sprague and Thornhurst and landscape the parcel, which will keep stormwater from backing up along Sprague ditches as much as possible, Glass said.
Glass said Leach will install riffles (land formations) and scour pools (depressions) in the stream bed.
The riffles and scour pools will slow the stream, cutting back on erosion.
Variations in the stream depth achieved with riffles and scour pools will nurture a wider range of aquatic species -- including fish, amphibians and invertebrates -- that might not thrive in shallower, faster-flowing water, Glass said.
“Deeper scour pools offer refuge for fish from predators, extreme temperatures and high-flow events,” Glass said.
“They can also serve as spawning areas and nurseries for certain fish species.”
In addition, scour pools can trap sediment and organic matter, taking those materials out of the water flow, which improves water quality and reduces the transport of pollutants downstream, Glass said.
“Trees and other growth within the stream bottom will be cleared to allow the stream to handle larger flows when necessary,” Glass said.
“New plantings will be installed on the flatter side slopes to help stabilize the banks.”
In addition to Leach Excavating, six other companies bid on the Big Creek project.
They were Marks Construction Inc. in Valley City ($246,057), Siteworx Unlimited LLC in West Farmington ($272,213), Fabrizi Trucking & Paving Co. Inc. in Middleburg Heights ($311,065), Mark Haynes Construction Inc. in Norwalk ($319,525), C. Crump Inc. in Hubbard ($332,721) and D.R.S. Enterprises Inc. in Garfield Heights ($353,217).
The engineer’s estimate was $316,073.
Although Marks Construction’s bid was the lowest, the city rejected the bid because the company didn’t provide the type of bond the bid specifications required, Glass said.
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