Value Engineering the Termination of the
Blue River Flood Conveyance Channel
Robert Prager, PE
Strategic Value Solutions, Inc
Independence, Missouri
Alan Schlindwein, PE
US Army Corps of Engineers
Kansas City, Missouri
June 14, 2012
US Army Corps of Engineers
BUILDING STRONG®
Battle of Westport
AKA: The Gettysburg of the West
BUILDING STRONG®
The Real Brush Creek
(after USACE project)
BUILDING STRONG®
st
1
&
nd
2
Battles of the Big Blue
at Byram’s Ford
BUILDING STRONG®
Byram’s Ford
BUILDING STRONG®
Blue River Flood
Conveyance Channel
 35,000 cfs
Flood Control
Channel
 New Bridges
 Remapping of
Floodplain
BUILDING STRONG®
 3rd Battle of
Byram’s Ford
 Concrete
Grade Control
Structure
BUILDING STRONG®
Proposed Grade Control Structure
BUILDING STRONG®
Byram’s Ford Industrial Park
BUILDING STRONG®
Stated Goals
 Prevent the headcutting at the battlefield
location
 Limit maximum flood elevation to preproject conditions
 Control velocity upstream to manage
scour along the riverbanks
BUILDING STRONG®
Design
 The structure was designed to stop headcutting and control flood elevations
upstream to pre-project conditions which
in turn aided in managing scour at the
battlefield location and along the
riverbanks by controlling velocity.
BUILDING STRONG®
Externalities
 Construction of the grade control structure would
affect the channel upstream of this project and
create pre-project conditions, i.e., flooding in areas
that had not experienced flooding since the channel
project began would now be flooded again.
BUILDING STRONG®
BUILDING STRONG®
BUILDING STRONG®
The Value Ah Ha!
Functions
 The current flood levels
can be maintained to limit
maximum flood elevation to
below pre-project
100%
conditions
 Grade controls can be
distributed along the river
rather than at a concrete
waterfall
0%
Perfection
Best Value
Poor Value
Cost
BUILDING STRONG®
BUILDING STRONG®
Stated Goals
 PROTECT THE
CHANNEL
 PRESERVE THE
BATTLEFIELD
 By Mimicking
Natural Processes
BUILDING STRONG®
Work with
River
Continuum
Riffle Pool
Sequence
Place at
end of
Bend
BUILDING STRONG®
River Profile - Newbury & Proposed GCS
820
810
Ground
800
100yr
bridges
low flow
790
780
770
760
750
740
730
720
54000
59000
64000
69000
74000
79000
BUILDING STRONG®
Grade Control at KC Zoo
BUILDING STRONG®
Rock Grade Control Structure
BUILDING STRONG®
2000 cfs flow
BUILDING STRONG®
BUILDING STRONG®