Trash-clogged Duffyfield canal to get cleanup, flood fixes and park links under new plan

The City of New Bern is working on a restoration plan for the canal within the Duffyfield community.

They held their last in-person community input session at the Stanley White Recreation Center.

The Duffyfield community is home to a small canal that flows throughout, but the canal is prone to flooding and can often fill with trash. The City of New Bern is working on a plan to clean up the canal and improve the surrounding area.

Luke Baker is the project manager and says the project will make the community more resilient to the severe weather we often face here on the coast. He says the plan should be put together in a matter of months.

We’re looking at flood mitigation improvements, water quality improvements, and then also a parks and recreation element to interconnect some of these other city projects together… At least for that master plan effort, our goal is to have that completed in October — so this being our final meeting is really just to gather that last little bit of input.

Baker says the timeline for the project to be completely implemented is still years out.

But once they have that master plan, they can take it to City of New Bern officials and work together to get the plan implemented.