About This Project

Who is proposing this project?

Lead Organization: San Diego River Park Foundation

Website: https://www.sandiegoriver.org/broadway_creek.html

Supporting organizations:

• Broadway Creek Foundation
• City of El Cajon
• San Diego River Conservancy
• California Department of Water Resources

What is proposed?

This project is working to restore Broadway Creek to reduce flooding risks, expand green space, improve water quality, and improve habitat for local wildlife and plants. Efforts include:

• Removing invasive plants and trash
• Planting native grasses, rushes, and other plants conducive to restoring habitat and improving water quality
• Re-contouring and reinforcing creek slopes to reduce erosion and flooding during storm events

In addition to increasing ecologically-healthy green space in El Cajon, this project will work to install small-scale outdoor creekside amenities. The San Diego River Park Foundation is collecting public input on what kind of amenities the community would like to see.

Broadway Creek is a tributary of Forester Creek, a tributary of the San Diego River. This project is part of the San Diego River Park Foundation’s ongoing work with community members and stakeholders in El Cajon to create a better future for Forester Creek.

Project Location

Broadway Creek flows into Forester Creek and then into the San Diego River. More specifically, water from Broadway Creek flows east to west along Broadway before turning north near Ballantyne Street and flowing into Forester Creek near Gillespie Field. Eventually, water in the channel makes its way to the ocean.

Why is this project on the 30×30 list?

Restoring Broadway Creek will transform a polluted waterbody into a healthy, natural creek. This comes with several benefits, including boosting biodiversity, increasing public access to green space, and increasing climate resilience.

Broadway Creek is home to numerous plants and animals. However, they’re currently being impacted by invasive plants, trash, and other forms of pollution. This project will remove invasives and plant native vegetation in order to restore habitat for local species and protect biodiversity.

The project will also focus on expanding the El Cajon community’s access to green space by clearing trash, reducing bad smells, and installing several creekside amenities such as educational signage along the creek.

This effort will also focus on reshaping and strengthening the creek slopes, which will help boost climate resilience as storm events become more frequent. Reinforcing the creek slopes will reduce erosion. Reshaping the slopes reduces the chance of flooding, as it increases the creek-bed’s capacity to convey water during a storm event. Limited flooding also lowers the risk of property damage associated with storms.

The project will also help reduce heat islands by expanding green areas within the urban landscape. Finally, restoring Broadway Creek will reduce airborne pollution resulting from trash and poor water quality.

How will this project be completed?

The City of El Cajon received grant funding of $2.8 million from the California Department of Water Resources and the San Diego River Conservancy to improve the Broadway Creek in partnership with the San Diego River Park Foundation.

Crews began work on the project in April 2022, with initial work focused on a small segment of Broadway Creek between Ballantyne Street and Broadway.