The initial Ohio River Vision plan was revealed last spring. In part, it reimagines the downtown Evansville Ohio Riverfront with shops, event spaces and more walkability.
It also changes Riverside Drive from a heavily traveled thoroughfare to a slow pedestrian- friendly Boulevard.
On Thursday, the Evansville Regional Economic partnership (EREP) shared updates on this development plan for the Ohio Riverfront. Many refinements have been made for flood prevention.
“A lot of the refinements are based on a deeper technical understanding,” Anna Cawrse with Design Firm Sasaki said. “So getting into the levees, looking at a lot of the utilities, looking at some of the infrastructure that's in place, especially working with some of the as-built drawings.”
They’re minimizing interventions with the existing levee system. With the new plan, pedestrian steps down to the river in the proposed Great Bend park at Main Street, are elevated out of a section of the floodplain.
“So in this refined plan, you'll see those steps down being very careful with the flooding and thinking about the elevation,” Cawrse said, referring to the slides projected behind her. “Actually, we've lifted up the Great Lawn out of the kind of consistent flooding plain, so that we're constantly thinking about the operations and maintenance.”
Meaning, where should features be to reduce debris collection when the area floods.
Other changes include the Four Freedoms monument. Its final location is tweaked, giving it more space.
They’ve flipped the new residential area and the playground within the proposed Great Bend Park.
There are no cost estimates and there are still several phases of early design. The plan timeline could span decades.
They’re also working with communities Mt. Vernon and Newburgh on their riverfront plans.
The next step is to bring in engineers — civil and traffic, and get up to 30-percent architectural design completion.
A potential challenge ahead is routing the heavy Riverside Drive traffic elsewhere.
Working with flood prevention and the Army Corps of Engineers levee system also complicates the process.
More on the plan can be seen here
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