Missouri River Flooding along Council Bluffs and Omaha Bike Trails

Pell and I rode out Sunday morning to check out how flooding has affected bike facilities between the Bob Kerrey Pedestrian Bridge in the north and the Veterans Memorial Bridge to the south.  What we found wasn't surprising, giving the history of flooding in some of these areas, but it was nice to document them with photos.

Please see the photos and captions below for some notes on the flooding.

Flood Gate #8.  Normally this is open to allow cyclists to access the Lewis and Clark Landing.

Flood Gate #8

Flood Gate #8.  Note the Bob Kerrey Bridge towers in the background.

The water is only a couple of feet from the top of the walk.

The view of the Omaha skyline from Council Bluffs.  This section of levee appears to have been fortified.

Harrah's Casino parking lot is flooded.  You can see geese on the gravel island.

The Iowa Riverfront Trail is officially closed heading south at Harrah's.

The bike trail passes underneath the parking garage.

The south side of the Harrah's Casino parking garage.

This water level photo shows the bike path simply slipping underneath the water.

The north side of the Ameristar Casino is flooded, as well.

The Iowa Riverfront Trail heading north is officially closed between Ameristar and Harrah's.

Not only is the bike trail closed heading south on River Road from Ameristar Casino, the road itself is closed.  Note the private security protecting the pumps and hoses running across the street.

The levee road heading south from the Western Historic Trails Center is closed.

The trail heading west from the Western Historic Trails Center is closed.

And this is why it's closed.  The trail is under 5-10 feet of water.

From this point on, we rode east to 24th Street in Council Bluffs and picked up the sidepath on Highway 92/275 (Veterans Memorial Parkway) and headed east back toward the South Omaha Bridge.

The trail is almost complete.  There's a missing section between the bridge and a block or so to the east.  The cement sidepath on toward the Willow's Motel is done, but still has "Sidewalk Closed" signs posted.

This used to be a gravel parking lot and trail access for dirt bike and ATV operators.

This looks like the river, but it's actually the motocross park just east of the river.

The Missouri River as seen from the Veterans Memorial Bridge bike path.

This is the first time I've seen the Omaha Riverfront Trail gate open north of the Veterans Memorial Bridge.  Cyclists normally have to lift their bikes over the gate.

This ramp was constructed to allow vehicles to pass over the pump hoses.

This facility is protected by sandbags.

Water is pumped across the levee back into a spillway to the Missouri River.

The pumps here were humming, creating quite a noise.

These hoses were not protected.  To our surprise, a a guy out siteseeing in his pickup truck drive right over the hoses.

There are several cabins and trailers on the wet side of the levee.  I wonder if they will come back after the water recede.

This house is underwater.

I heard that these ramps will flat a bike tire instantly.  I didn't even risk it, preferring to walk my bike over it.

Those welded on grips look very sharp to a high pressure tire.

The gate on the trail at Hickory Street was closed.  There was an OPD cruiser waiting, presumably for the guy in the truck.  The officers didn't say anything to us, but followed us on out to Hickory Street, moving barricades back into the street.

And for fun, Pell and I rode up Hickory Street Hill.

I like this view from the top of the hill in the Dahlman neighborhood.

I'd like to do a similar trip showing the Omaha and Council Bluffs trails heading north from downtown.

If you know of any other interesting spots showing flooding, please discuss below.

Spooks On Spokes 2009 - My Recap

Zounds! It's been almost a month since my last post. Unfortunately, this post is going to pretty meager. I just want to post the few pics that I took during the 2009 Spooks On Spokes scavenger hunt.

Chris G. and I teamed up to ride in the 2009 Spooks On Spokes scavenger hunt/alleycat organized by The D and his wife, The K. We started out pretty strong, but a couple of wrong turns (from my map misinterpretation -- being a Unix professional, you'd think I would understand that a "u" is not the same as a "U"), a flat tire, and ignoring the fact that the finish line wasn't the same as the starting line, put us at four hours; a full hour behind the winning teams.

From the start, my objective was simply to finish the race and have a good time, and unquestionably, this was accomplished. Chris and I had a great time riding, and running into other cyclists, both known and unknown, was fun. I also enjoyed seeing the variety of bikes that showed up, from fixies to cruisers, from 15 pound road bikes to tank like mountain bikes.

Here's my list of observations:

• It's mean to make the second checkpoint 15 feet out in Zorinski Lake. My feet stayed wet all day, and I'm not sure how to get the smell of lake water out of my shoes. Thank goodness for warm wool socks
• Picking up soda cans by hooking them on the end of a wire is harder than it looks. Expect to fall at least once if you've never done this. Maybe bike polo would be fun?
• West Omaha trails, sidewalks, and shoulders are messed up. You're riding along when suddenly it just stops! You might also find a trail bridge that dumps out into a undeveloped field.
• 90% of the joggers at Zorinski Lake are female
• If you try to use your Geocaching "Force" to locate hidden objects (like the 20 minute time bonus hidden in a wooded area), you're likely to find a Geocache. I did, but it was destroyed by water. Otherwise, I would have TNLNSTL.
• It's distracting to change a flat tire when there's a line of people waiting behind for their turn at the challenge.
• Most people staffing business at checkpoints seemed amused to participate by handing out their business cards.
  

Photos

Participants signing in

Powerbar giveaway

A couple arrives in hula costumes. The temperature was in the mid 30s.

Yee haw! A cowgirl costume. I wonder if the boots have pedal cleats.

All bikes are laid down. Participants must run to the first clue, then run back to their bikes.

The D briefs all participants on the race rules.

Chris flats near Village Point on a West Dodge service road.

Unfortunately, I was too wrapped up in participating in the race that I didn't take many more photos. Watch the comments for links to other sites with photos from the event.

Start making your plans now for bicycle-friendly costumes for next year's Spooks on Spokes.