The Sooner Park pond and the Pathfinder nearby the pond will soon be undergoing some changes.
The City of Bartlesville began work on Monday to expand the pond at Sooner Park as part of the Sooner Park Detention Pond Improvement project -- a project which will require the closing of the Pathfinder tunnel underneath Madison Ave.
City of Bartlesville Director of Engineering Terry Lauritsen said the project will increase the size of the pond by a fourth -- lengthening it in the direction of the Turkey Creek waterfalls.
Additionally, workers will deepen the pond from its current depth of about five feet to about 10 feet deep.
"One of the extra features we are able to to do is we are going to be able to deepen that pool so if we want to stock it with fish or enable that type of recreational use for it, then it will be able to support it," said Lauritsen.
He said the intent of the pond project is to relieve potential for downstream flooding and to allow for continued upstream development in northeast Bartlesville without causing any downstream flooding situations.
Lauritsen said in order to complete the scope of the project, the City will be closing the Pathfinder tunnel underneath Madison Avenue in a few weeks to enable work crews to install new drainage underneath the road. He said the tunnel will be closed for four months. A new tunnel will replace the old one.
The project, estimated to take six months, will cost $930,000.
