Glade Creek is a stocked trout stream in Roanoke County that was experiencing heavily eroding banks which caused high sediment loads to settle in the overly wide channel. The stream also had historical documentation of Roanoke log perch, a federally listed fish species.

Restoration on Glade Creek was implemented to reduce erosion and to meet the County’s total maximum daily loading (TMDL) reduction requirements for nitrogen and phosphorus. The amount of eroded sediment in the stream was estimated by using the Bank Erosion Hazard Index (BEHI) tool, and this index number was correlated to the pounds of nitrogen and phosphorus exported from the site on an annual basis. Because of this assessment, the County was able to successfully obtain SLAF grant funding for the stream restoration.

Two connecting segments of Glade Creek have been constructed, with any segment having its own unique project delivery as well as site design challenges. Phase 1 involved a design build project approach, while Phase 2 was a traditional design bid build approach. Phase 1 was implemented in a park setting, while Phase 2 was laterally constrained by a railroad. Phase 1 involved extensive coordination with US Fish and Wildlife Service, including a biological opinion related to effects to Roanoke log perch and federally protected bats from project construction.

The total amount of work on Glade Creek is over 5,000 feet. Since the completion of each phase, there has been no need for Roanoke County have any maintenance work completed on the project.

This presentation will describe the benefits of the varying delivery methods along with how the design approaches varied to meet the site constraints and produced stable reaches that have required no maintenance. The complex issues of securing the project’s permits will also be discussed, particularly how the environmental permitting on Phase 1 provided for a smoother process to secure environmental permits for Phase 2.