After nearly two decades of planning, construction and litigation, local and state officials have cut the ribbon on Stockton’s Smith Canal Gate Project.
The $96 million project, the first of its kind west of the Mississippi, will provide an “unprecedented” level of flood protection to an economically depressed area of ​​downtown Stockton, according to San Joaquin Area Flood Control Agency officials. Wednesday’s event was held in conjunction with California Flood Preparedness Week, Oct. 19-26.
In 2008, the Federal Emergency Management Agency identified the neighborhood as high-risk. Five years later, property owners agreed to pay for the gate on a vote of 59% to 41%, The Record previously reported.
The flood gate was deemed necessary to provide a higher level of flood protection and to save on mandatory flood insurance for approximately 8,500 properties located in a high risk flood zone in central Stockton. The gate is intended to prevent Delta floodwaters from flowing into the Smith Canal and threatening the levees, which are covered by private homes and cannot be inspected.
The project includes a flood wall along the San Joaquin River between Dad’s Point and the eastern boundary of the Stockton Golf & Country Club, San Joaquin Area Flood Control Agency officials said.
The project began in 2014 and was implemented by the San Joaquin Area Flood Control Agency and the Department of Water Resources. However, it was delayed when a private engineer, whose bid to design and build the gate was rejected, filed a lawsuit twice in an attempt to block it.
Construction didn’t begin until 2020, according to the San Joaquin Area Flood Control Agency.
The Smith Canal port will eventually be integrated into the $1.4 billion U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) Lower San Joaquin River Project, which breaks ground next year and includes 37 miles of levee improvements in north and central Stockton.
This article originally appeared in The Record: Stockton unveils California’s first historic floodgate along the Delta Levees
