Addressing Flood Protection, Amenity, and Ecology Through the Design of Wil

In 1950 when the channelization of Wills Creek began, stormwater management practices were primarily focused on flood control rather than flood prevention and risk management. The channelization of Wills Creek was an effort in preparing against the future, not for the future.

Today, we are reimagining Wills Creek, transforming it from a stagnant single-use infrastructure into a dynamic, nature-based system that enhances resilience not just of the creek, but Cumberland as a whole.

Meaning “the meeting of the waters of many fishes”, the inhabitants of this region prior to 1730 were a sub-division of the Shawanese tribe. They used the land for hunting and fishing, and game was “sufficiently abundant in wood and water to supply them with all that was needed of food and furs”.

The name of “Wills Creek” which then referred to the waterway and the surrounding land was attained from the given Christian name of a Shawnee Native American man who had considerable land claims around the creek.

In the Fry and Jefferson map published in 1755, we see the names of both ‘Caicutuck’ and ‘Wills Creek’.

Its tannery wastes, amounting to 10,000 gallons in twenty-four hours, together with the sewage of its employees

The German Brewing Company pours out the washings from its barrels, amounting to 1,500 gallons per day, together with the sewage of its 35 employees. On the opposite bank a gas company lets some of its waste liquors escape.

a succession of overhanging privies, interspersed by the sewers of two steam laundries and by a few slaughterhouses, whose floors drain the blood of the animals and with it a small amount of offal into the creek.

The Potomac River basin Horatio, et al. 1907

The evolution of human development patterns reveal the constraints/incentives that have shaped Cumberland from early European settlement to present day.

From Fort Cumberland's strategic defense position to the construction of the interstate, the city has been molded by centuries of industrialization within the context of Cumberland's unique geographic location.

Historical industrial booms made possible by Cumberland's passage through the Appalachian Mountains are now present in the form of large scale anti-pedestrian obstacles.

The channelization of Wills Creek in the 1950's constricted the stream's footprint, facilitating a concrete corridor for industrial development to be built suffocatingly close to the stream.

This made the creek itself a linear obstacle surrounded by concrete walls, pipelines, rail roads, and private property.

The channelization took a decade to complete. With a total cost amounting to $18.5 million, a purchasing power upwards of $230 million in todays economy, the plans for the channel included 2.3 miles of channelization, 3 pumping stations, 8 pressure conduits, an industrial water supply dam, reconstruction of the railroad bridges, relocation of tracks, and reconstruction for 3 highways. Suffice to say this was an extremely radical infrastructure project.

The result is an extremely fragmented urban fabric- separated by concrete walls which are physically and visually impermeable

What's behind?

In design, conflicts are not always oppositional; rather, they hold the potential for synergy—where ecological, social, and economic growth can coexist without compromise.

Throughout the design process, we constantly had to adjust to find the balance between what at first seemed like contradictions. How do we allow for the natural flux of the river while maintaining appropriate regulation? How do we provide innovative solutions for a town deeply rooted in history, preserving its character while addressing critical needs? These are the kinds of complex, multi-layered challenges we faced.

Where is the balance?

Wills Creek, as it stands today, cannot return to its original, "natural" state. The conditions under which it once existed—its vegetation, watershed, pH levels, and even the atmospheric conditions—have been irreversibly altered.

The solution, therefore, is not to strive for restoration, but to address needs current needs through novel, biophilic-based designs that are adapted to the present context. These designs are not "novel" in the sense that they have never existed before, in fact, they are rooted in principles that have always been inherent in nature. However, they feel new because, as a society, we have turned away from these principles in favor of rigid, unnatural solutions.

The solution in this context was the transmutation of a dynamic ecosystem to an infrastructure that is singular in purpose, devoid of life, and completely ignores the complex, multidimensional character of natural systems.

Rivers are extremely dynamic. While we mainly notice the vertical rise and fall of water levels, there is also horizontal widening, changes in velocity, and erosion and settling of sediments.

A significant part of our masterplan was centered around selective expansion and undulation to mimic natural river typology and grading of the river bed.

Deliberately restricted, urban river systems have minimal buffering capacity, creating extreme and sudden discharge peaks.

The flat bottom constructed during the channelization has resulted in the restructure not just of floodplains but in riffle and pool sequences.

There is no chance for the velocity of the water to drop off once it has reached flood level, but instead shoots down the river at an extreme speed. No “flooding” is actually possible, just fluctuations in water level.

Vertical, as well as lateral expansion

A truly healthy river cannot exist in an unhealthy watershed- the health of a river being directly tied to the health of its contributing watershed. With this knowledge, we felt our design would be incomplete without first addressing the treatment of stormwater in Cumberland.

*where each gallon represents 10,000 gallons of water

A combination of stormwater management strategies were selected in suitable sites based on vacancy, prime redevelopment areas, and site topography and hydrology. Shifting from strategies based on the goal of moving stormwater away from site as quickly as possible, to strategies focused on retaining it on-site for as long as possible.

River inspired design motifs

The site context consists of concrete walls, unique grading changes, the creek's channel walls, an existing structure, multiple bridges, and the Great Allegheny Passage. Innovating with respect to the city's history meant finding solutions within the constraints of the site.

The decision to preserve the existing barn-style structure as a "drive-thru" bike shop was a result of the decision matrix of "innovation vs preservation." The site's isolation was remedied by a new pedestrian crossing over the railroad and its connection to the proposed retrofit of the B&O Bridge that spans Wills Creek.

The Depot Bike Park sits comfortably along the GAP adjacent to the Western Maryland Scenic Railroad. The Depot features three jump lines of varying difficulty level, a pump track, flow track, skills park, drive-thru bike shop and a locomotive themed playground. Using Cumberland's history, the park's proximity to the historic railroad, surrounding mountainous views, and recreation opportunities provided by the GAP, the park's programming focuses on accommodating a variety of recreation needs to serve a community resource.

The pedestrian bridge crossing the Western Maryland Scenic Railroad was designed to create corridors along its axis as well as beneath the steel truss structure including the GAP.

Spanning the depressed railway while bridging the obstacle meant minimizing the structure's contact with the ground. Finding a solution that balances innovation with preservation was key.

The design utilizes the existing concrete piers to support the structure. The piers historically voided the creek side by eliminating access physically and visually. Now, these piers are serving as the foundation of new community resources.