Pictures 2-8 and 2-9.
In 2010, the City of Champaign, as part of its improvement
plans for the Boneyard Creek drainage system, constructed a landscaped
water detention basin along Second Street and Boneyard Creek from Springfield
Ave. to University Ave. This included the Stone Arch Bridge and all the
land around it. These pictures, taken June 29, 2011, show the results.
The bridge is essentially unchanged from its previous rebuilding, but everything
around it has been changed, and railings have been added to both sides of the
bridge. The top photo looks southward, the bottom photo to the north.
There is a nearby pumping station which feeds a water cascade that flows under
the bridge, as well as another and larger cascade a block further north.
These serve both an aesthetic purpose and a practical one, oxygenating the
water of the creek. Curiously, the direction of water flow under the
bridge is now south to north, the opposite of the original direction of the
Boneyard Creek, though the creek water itself continues to flow north to
south. The result is a park-like atmosphere that is suitable
for recreation when not dealing with the flood problem that formerly plagued
this area. — Photos by the author
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