Briarwood Area ~ Since 1997 ~
Neighborhood Association
Little Rock's Second Safest Neighborhood
Tracking
the
Briarwood
Spill
The creek, drainage ditch, or whatever one wishes to call it, that runs through the Briarwood subdivision between Apache and Flag roads, has a length of about two miles. Many are aware of the waterway, especially those who have been flooded because of it, but don't know much about it. It didn't even have a name so the Briarwood Area Neighborhood Association [BANA] gave it the name of 'Briarwood Spill' because it spilled into Briarwood.
The Spill starts south of Cantrell, in Merriwether Park, and runs south in a more or less straight line, along Hughes for a while, until it crosses Markham, and then takes a curving course between Apache and Flag Road, going west and crossing under Mississippi Avenue before it leaves the Briarwood subdivision and turns south again to go under Interstate-630 and on into Kanis Park, across its entrance, and then finally flows into Rock Creek.
Every year or two, when there is a torrential downpour, water will come rushing down the Spill from higher elevations and flood parts of Briarwood. Maybe something can be done about this and, also, to dress up the waterway's channel, to make it more attractive.
This webpage traces the course of the Briarwood Spill in pictures, from its source to its junction with Rock Creek. The photos were taken between 8:30 AM and 11:00 AM, the morning of August 11, 2007.
The first visible sign of the Briarwood Spill occurs at the entrance to Merriwether Park, Florida Avenue at 'M' Street, where water issues forth from twin culverts under the park's entrance.
The Briarwood Spill winds through Merriwether Park in a leisurely manner, generally going in a southeast direction. Note how green the grass is around the waterway. It hadn't rained for weeks and there was a trickle of water in the spill, perhaps from springs.
The Briarwood Spill's exit from Merriwether Park is at the south end, directly north of North Bryan Street, where a culvert takes it underground.
Meanwhile, there are other ditches in the vicinity. This is a picture of what seems to be one of the major tributaries to the Briarwood Spill. This is a picture of the source, on the grounds of the Williams Magnet Elementary School at 7301 Evergreen Drive. For lack of a name, we called it the Williams Tributary.
The Williams Tributary wound around the school grounds, flowing downhill from west to east and then towards the south, increasing in size as it went.
This is the exit used by the Williams Tributary from the school grounds. It emptied into the Briarwood Spill running along North Bryant.
This is a picture of the twin culverts under Evergreen Drive at the intersection with Bryant Street. North of Evergreen, to the park, the street is named Bryan Street and the water from the park is underground the length of that block.
It reappears here, in greater volume than from the park and must come from a number of underground drains. Considering there has been no rain for weeks, the water seen in this picture must be from springs.
This is how the Briarwood Spill looks as it runs south along North Bryant Street. We think there is little question that it was channelized at some point in time.
This is another picture of the Spill on North Bryant Street. Note, towards the top of the picture, that it takes a 90 degree right angle turn to the east to go over to Mellon Street. Considering how straight the watercourse is and the right angle turn, the Spill must have been channelized in this area.
This is a picture of the Briarwood Spill, taken from the edge of a drain spout, as it comes out on Mellon Street. Note the drain pipe in the retaining wall. There are numerous drains and small drainage ditches, too many to show, that empty into the Spill along the way.
As the Spill continues south along the east side of Mellon Street, there are a number of private bridges built across it. The bridges lead to houses that face Coolidge Street, immediately east of Mellon.
This is the picture of the Spill, certainly channelized at this point, making another right-angle turn on Mellon and going on across Coolidge just south of 'F' Street, to reach North Hughes Street. Note the concrete embankment.
This is how the Briarwood Spill looks when it comes out to run southward along the west side of North Hughes Street. Note that, like the east side of Mellon, there are no houses on the west side of North Hughes Street.
This is another picture of the Spill running down the west side of Hughes Street, a block farther south. The bridge seen in the distance, towards the top of the picture, is the bridge for Shamrock Drive.
This picture was taken from the Shamrock Drive Bridge that goes over the Briarwood Spill. We were amazed at the channel that, presumably, the Spill cut as it curved to the west. It is certainly picturesque and may have potential for development of some type of neighborhood site.
This picture shows the winding course of the Briarwood Spill on farther down as it makes its way along North Hughes Street. There is a sizable area of unused land here. Could it be used for a retaining pond?
This picture shows where the Briarwood Spill finally turns westward for the last time, and flows away from North Hughes Street.
This picture is taken from the west side of the Briarwood Spill and shows the point at which Amherst Drive dead ends because of the waterway. Some think Amherst runs through to North Hughes, but the Amherst on the other (east) side of the Spill is a cul-de-sac named Amherst Cove.
This is a picture of the Briarwood Spill flowing south after coming out from under Markham Street.
This is a picture of the Briarwood Spill looking north from the bridge on Briarwood Drive over the watercourse. Note that the Spill has been partially channelized, possibly by the homeowner.
This is a picture of the Briarwood Spill looking west from the bridge over Sun Valley Road. Again, the waterway is partially channelized.
This is a picture of the Briarwood Spill looking east from the bridge on Mississippi Avenue. The Spill was channelized in this area several years ago. Also, chain link fences were added on both sides of the waterway.
Note that the channelized Spill makes a right-angle curve around the residence on the corner of Mississippi and Ouachita. Again, there are chain link fences are on both sides of the watercourse.
This is a view looking south from Ouachita Drive towards the water channel under Rodney Parham Road. The Spill continues on as a free-flowing stream beyond Rodney Parham, under Interstate-630, since the expressway is elevated on concrete piers at this point.
This picture is taken from the north end of Kanis Park, just south of the I-630 expressway, looking south at a footbridge over the Briarwood Spill.
This is a picture, taken to the south of the footbridge, shows the course of the Briarwood Spill near the entrance to Kanis Park. The road running across the top of the picture is the entrance road to the park and, most times, has a shallow wash of water from the Spill flowing over it.
This is a close-up of the entry road to Kanis Park at the point where the Briarwood Spill usually flows over it. When there's been a heavy rain and a lot of water is coming down the Spill, the park is closed and the park gates kept locked.
This is a second footbridge over the Briarwood Spill as it wends its way along the eastern edge of the park towards the skateboard area.
This is the third and final footbridge over the Briarwood Spill, located in the southeast corner of the park, just before its juncture with Rock Creek.
This turned out to be a disappointing picture, taken from the third bridge over the Briarwood Spill. As you can see, the Spill at this point is bone dry and only a pool of water is visible in Rock Creek, seen towards the top of this photo. At other times, if water had been flowing in both the Spill and Rock Creek, this scene would have been much more impressive.