Johnstown Local Flood Protection Project - Johnstown, PA
N 40° 19.830 W 078° 55.500
17T E 676270 N 4466506
The rivers were concretized for 9.2 miles, as a flood prevention project. The Library of Congress designates this as a significant example of a specialized engineering structure.
Waymark Code: WM170MR
Location: Pennsylvania, United States
Date Posted: 11/14/2022
Views: 1
From sign:
A Success Story
The concrete river channels before you are part of the Pittsburgh district, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Johnstown Local Flood Protection Project (JLFPP). It is the longest paved channelization project in Pennsylvania and one of the largest in the United States. Congress authorized construction of the project through amendments to the landmark federal Flood Control Act of 1936. The project is a specialized engineering structure elibible for listing on the National Register of Historic Places.
The JLFPP was constructed between 1938 and 1943 to handle river flows equivalent to those experienced in Johnstown during the 1936 St Patrick's Day flood. Flood protection improvements consisted of deepening and widening the channels in the Conemaugh, Little Conemaugh, and Stonycreek rivers and the construction of concrete side slopes and floodwalls.
The project has been a success. In its first six decades, the project was overtopped only once during the exceptional "500-year flood" of 1977. Through 2002, the project has provided over $803 million in flood damage prevention benefits.
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The Johnstown Local Flood Protection Project (JLFPP) is a significant example of a specialized engineering structure designed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in 1937-1938 and constructed at a cost of $8.89 million between 1938 and 1943. It was then the second largest flood control structure of its type and upon completion was said to be the best river channel improvement project in the country.