By MELINDA J. OVERSTREET
for Glasgow News 1
The City of Glasgow is soliciting proposals from engineering consulting firms interested in developing a green infrastructure stormwater analysis of a portion of the South Fork of Beaver Creek watershed in an effort to reduce flooding and erosion.
Bids on the project are due by 2 p.m. Dec. 2.
Basic information about what is expected from the analysis, which would involve planning and design work, but not actual physical changes at this time, is included in the request for proposals available on the city’s website. The firm selected would provide services including project management, technical writing, reporting, stakeholder outreach, water resource assessments, geotechnical assessments, surveying and green infrastructure design.
The cost of the analysis is being funded through a grant from the Kentucky Division of Water; the work has to be completed, all reports submitted and all funds spent by Sept. 30, 2026, according to the RFP, but the actual anticipated timeline for all tasks to be completed is closer to eight months.
Jim McGowan, superintendent of the Glasgow Department of Public Works, said the study area essentially begins at Gorin Park and continues to and along Trojan Trail up to where it meets the U.S. 31-E Bypass.
“Historically, we’ve had a lot of issues out there with flooding, stormwater control, bank erosion,” he said. “There’s a lot of issues going on out there that it’s not the most desirable means of transporting stormwater across that corridor.”
He said the watershed is prone to flooding, which then had led to erosion and property damage over the years. A couple of areas in particular that have seen the effects of that are the Barren County High School baseball field and the area adjacent to it across Hilltopper Way and the property where the Barren River Animal Welfare Association is. Multiple flooding incidents at the latter location have led to the construction of a berm and pumps to help project the facility. “And that whole bottom ground” along the other side of Trojan Trail is also subject to flooding.
“What this project is for is to look at areas that we may be able to put some retention basins, bioswales, anything that is green infrastructure,” McGowan said.
Some options for managing stormwater are “greener,” or more natural and/or environmentally friendly than others. One example of green infrastructure is a bioswale – a trenchlike depression in the ground that is landscaped with water-loving plants that help absorb and filter the water naturally. Retention basins, though, are often eyesores, he said, and are not so green. The grant requires that green infrastructures are used as solutions.
The consulting firm will help the city key in on four or five different locations for the creation of such infrastructure possibilities to stabilize and restore the creek banks, for example.
Once the analysis is completed, the city can determine what’s feasible for them to do and how much they can spend at one time. He said the actual improvement work may have to be done in phases, and it could take several years, depending on the solutions proposed.
Although the bid opening is Dec. 2, McGowan said city officials plan to interview a few of the lowest bidders to help ensure they are qualified to do the work before reaching a decision on which company will be awarded the contract.
