Davids Breaks Ground on $540 Million Levee Project to Reduce Flooding and Strengthen Aging Infrastructure
Today, Representative Sharice Davids joined local leaders from the Kansas City Metropolitan Area to celebrate the start of construction on a $540 million project with the Kansas City Levees project. When completed, the project will reduce the risk of flooding, improve the reliability and resiliency of the systems, strengthen aging infrastructure, and ensure the levees and floodwalls perform during future flood events. From full construction funding being announced in 2019 to today's groundbreaking, Rep. Davids, Vice Chair of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, has been there for it all.
"Kansans and all those who live along the Missouri and Kansas Rivers know just how much devastation floods can cause in our communities – and it's only gotten worse in recent years," said Davids. "This new project will invest in our levee infrastructure resulting in safer neighborhoods and new and permanent economic development opportunities for local communities. I am excited for both the immediate and long-term benefits that will follow."
Rep. Davids helps to break ground on a $540 million levee project
The Weather Channel has ranked Kansas City the 5th most vulnerable U.S. city to the effects of climate change, particularly flooding. Davids has advocated for flood safety at the federal level, securing funding for the national levee safety initiative in the FY 2020 appropriations bill and outlining potential solutions to the challenges communities in Kansas are facing in response to extreme weather. Most recently, Davids, in partnership with local governments, successfully secured the maximum amount of federal funding for the Upper Turkey Creek levee project.
Rep. Davids and other community leaders celebrate the start of the final phase of the Kansas City Levees project
The Kansas City Levee project consists of seven levee units including 60 miles of levees and floodwalls along both banks of the Missouri and Kansas Rivers in the Kansas City Metropolitan area. The system protects 32 square miles of industrial, commercial and residential areas, and includes 100,000 jobs, 7,000 structures and $22 billion in investments.
This new construction, a collaborative effort between United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), the Kaw Valley Drainage District, the Unified Government of Wyandotte County and Kansas City, Kansas, and the City of Kansas City, Missouri, will help complete the final phase of the project after 15 years of construction. Specifically, the $540 million project being kicked off today will raise levees and floodwalls, replace and repair an existing pump station, and improve aging infrastructure.