Engineers award Saw Mill River project

The area”™s engineering profession tonight will honor Yonkers and its engineering department for the city”™s downtown Saw Mill River daylighting project when the Westchester/Putnam chapter of the New York State Society of Professional Engineers presents Yonkers officials its 2012 Project of the Year award.

The approximately $18 million project diverted and uncovered a section of the underground Saw Mill River at Larkin Plaza and created a new riverwalk park between Warburton Avenue and the Metro-North Railroad station named Van Der Donck Park.

Paulus, Sokolowski & Sartor L.L.C. (PS&S) was consulting engineer on the project. ELQ Industries Inc. of New Rochelle was the contractor.

Yonkers Deputy Mayor Sue Gerry and City Engineer Paul Summerfield were to accept the award in a ceremony at Westchester Manor in Hastings-on-Hudson.

When diverting the river through a new exposed channel at Larkin Plaza, city engineers and PS&S also maintained the Saw Mill”™s main underground flume that was built in the 1920s. Peak flows at the new park are diverted through the flume to avoid potentially hazardous flooding.