The Diversion Channel next to the Arizona Canal


A little over twenty years ago, a diversion channel was created that runs parallel to the Arizona Canal. If you've never noticed it, it's to the credit of the engineers who have done things like this in Phoenix and have made them virtually invisible. If you take a look at a Google map, you will see the Diversion Channel running next to the Arizona Canal and then spreading out to become Thunderbird Paseo Park in Glendale. Most of the time, of course, it's dry, but when it rains, the channel fills up and channels the water away from the neighborhoods and down into Skunk Creek, New River, and the Agua Fria River.

In addition to flood control, the Diversion Channel has a path to walk, and bike. Unlike Los Angeles, that made their flood control areas dirty and dangerous places, surrounded by barbed wire, the Phoenix Diversion channel is a good place to bike, walk, or even play frisbee golf.
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