CHAMPAIGN — After major flooding struck Champaign and Urbana in 1993, city officials created the Boneyard Creek Improvement Plan to address flooding and draining issues and improve public accessibility.
The creek has a long history of flooding. It runs north of downtown Champaign, through the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign campus, and over through Urbana.
Shannon Beranek, a civil engineer with the city of Champaign, said much of the work aimed at addressing flooding and drainage problems has been completed. The cities are now taking steps to improve the walking paths and bike trails, making the public space safer and more accessible.
Some areas are hard to reach by bike or by foot, and Beranek said the next phases aim to improve pedestrian and bike trails.
“It’s a nice nature area, but you can’t really get to it,” she said. “So, part of what this [next phase] will do is connect all the different pieces and improve that pathway through there.”
The improvements will also include more trash cans, better lighting and nature walks above the water.
The cities and the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign also partner every year to host cleanup events that draw in support from the community. The 20th Boneyard Creek Community Day took place on Saturday, April 12.
Organizers estimate more than 500 volunteers helped with the cleanup of Boneyard Creek.
Among the Community Day volunteers was Nancy Williams, a Champaign resident and member of the Champaign Exchange Club for the past 30 years.
“We enjoy helping out with this project. We were cleaning out other parks in Champaign, for quite a number of years. And they are wonderful to link up with the park district to do this one,” Williams said.
The U of I is also involved in the event; a group of student volunteers from the Undergraduate Psychology Association participated in the cleanup. Jordan Wendt, a junior in psychology and sociology, came with her friends.
“I think it’s kind of like a dual thing, helping keep everything clean and right, and it does bring the community together and helps foster that tightness,” she said.
She said this was her first time participating.
“It’s nice to see a bunch of people from the community and not just U of I students. There are kids and families, and everyone in their orange shirts,” Wendt said.
Leslie Heath, an engineering technician with the city of Champaign’s Public Works Department, said she’s been involved in the Community Day for the past deacde. Her work focuses on maintaining the stormwater infrastructure and ensuring a healthy and diverse ecosystem for the local waterways.
“You’ll see a lot of the big outfall areas for stormwater, and they will get filled up with all the single- use plastic items,” she said. “They weave themselves together and they can really cause the water to back up.”
The pollution can also cause public health and safety issues. Heath said she hopes the annual cleanup event can raise awareness for people to maintain a safe and healthy environment for everyone to enjoy.