Arkansas Blog: Central Avenue au naturel

Interesting debate going on over in Hot Springs. The city, the National Park Service and a consulting firm are discussing the huge tunnel that runs under Central Avenue through the heart of the city -- the tunnel that couldn't handle the floodwaters iof 1990 that devastated the downtown area, including some of the bathhouses in the National Park. Hot Springs Creek, which drains the excess thermal waters as well as drainage from the mountains that bracket the downtown area, flows through the tunnel and emerges south of the downtown area.

The Park Hotel, which sits across Fountain Street from the National Park at the north end of Bathhouse Row, has inquired about the possibility of obtaining the famed thermal waters for use in bathing at the hotel. This would require running a pipe through the huge tunnel, which the consulting firm says would increase the chance of another devastating downtown flood.

The park's superintendent, Josie Fernandez, is quoted by The Sentinel-Record as wondering why the tunnel couldn't be opened up by tearing up Central Avenue and replacing it with a grate that would open up Hot Springs Creek (which flows through the tunnel). One of her reasons is that this would be "more natural."

An excerpt from The Sentinel-Record follows on the jump.

Discussions are now being held between the city, National Park Service and Atoka officials to see if there are any viable alternatives that could be implemented to provide flood control and the delivery of hot water through the creek arch.
    "Was it ever considered to just remove the tunnel in general and use some sort of bridge grating system in place of the street so the water would be free flowing?" Hot Springs National Park Superintendent Josie Fernandez asked at a meeting Tuesday.
    In a sketch to illustrate her idea, Fernandez indicated that if the tunnel was opened up, fill material around it could be removed, which would open up the creek channel.
    Jerry Overton, with Atoka, pointed out that very little fill was added to the sides of the creek and in most cases, the walls of the creek channel are the original sides except in some cases where the wall is actually the basement wall of a bath house.
    "If you removed all the fill, you would not increase the volume of the channel by all that much – maybe 25 percent. That (installing an open grate) means that instead of having a tunnel for water flow, you’d have an open channel for the same amount of water to flow through. The water would still get to the same height."
    "But it would be more natural," Fernandez said.

Comments

Think of all the poor children who might drop their coins and other belongings through that grate... lost to them forever, sure -- but maybe a new source of revenue for the city.

My personal thought is, dang, Hot Springs gets hot enough in the summer. Imagine if all that sunshine started to shine off of steel instead of concrete? Ouch! Bet you'll feel that through your flipflops!

Posted by: Kat Robinson | March 24, 2008 09:10 AM

I've always found Superintendent Fernandez interesting. Because for as long as I've known there to be a Hot Springs National Park, I've don't remember hearing about its superintendent -- that is, until she was appointed. She seems to be very involved in that community and very excited to promote the park any chance she can get.

With that said, I'm still trying to understand the "more natural" comment. Heh.

Posted by: cozmosis | March 24, 2008 09:12 AM

Imagine a Hot Springs (a la San Antonio) River Walk?

Posted by: ses | March 24, 2008 09:27 AM

Hot Springs has done a really impressive job of cleaning up Hot Springs creek. Walking paths and open space follow it almost to golf links road. For many a spa youth it is still Shit Creek. As a high school kid we could off road down to where it fed into the lake and drink beer without hassle. One evening we happened to notice a rather new utility cover blown off during recent rains. It looked like snow. After we turned the truck around to shine the headlights the 'snow' became apparent as thousands of condoms and tampons covering the ground and shrubbery.
Opening up Central to a canal with this sort of fauna could be a real tourist attraction! Better than sinking Ducks maybe!

Posted by: Zarathustra | March 24, 2008 10:26 AM

The last stroll I took through downtown Hot Springs I found myself quickly wondering why I had devoted two hours of my life to anything within the city limits of that washed up town.
My advice to anyone visiting the area anytime soon would be to stick to the lakes and hills. Bath house row is a nasty mess.

Posted by: James | March 24, 2008 10:32 AM

James, i don't really have a dog in this hunt but frequent Hot Springs and really have seen some improvement in the downtown area. The art galleries and pub crawl have moved about 3 blocks south. And after having grown up smelling HS creek I am truly impressed with the green space and walking path. Bath house row may be under some construction but over the last decades there has been a distinct growth and polish to downtown Hot Springs. The convention center has become a true gem for attracting tourists. The Documentary Film Festival is at least as distinguished as that silly assed shortest St Patrick parade. Hot Springs makes Branson look like a Kmart.

Posted by: Zarathustra | March 24, 2008 05:03 PM

Arkansas Blog

Central Avenue au naturel

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