TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) - Supporters of a multimillion-dollar project to improve levees along the Kansas River in Topeka say the work should improve flood management while also boosting the city’s economy.
Federal and local officials have been working together to plan the project for more than seven years. It officially kicked off with a groundbreaking ceremony on Thursday, The Topeka Capital-Journal reported (https://bit.ly/1RRBonP ).
The project will make the river “a showcase for good flood management, ecosystem restoration and protection and - perhaps most important - creative economic development,” said Brent Boles, chairman of the Greater Topeka Chamber of Commerce board of directors.
The joint project of the city and Army Corps of Engineers will improve protection for 6,500 homes, 790 businesses, regional air and rail infrastructure and many public utility facilities, Mayor Larry Wolgast said.
“Within Topeka are 40 miles of levees, 3,600 feet of floodwall,” Wolgast added. “To me, that provides the seriousness and vital importance of what we are doing.”
In a news release issued Thursday, the city said the federal 2017 fiscal year budget released in February included an additional $8 million to complete the project. The Topeka Flood Risk Management project has received $10.8 million in federal dollars so far while the city has contributed $4.1 million to date.
Deputy city manager Doug Gerber has said the city will eventually pay about $10 million out of the project to rehabilitate the levee.
City officials’ foresight to begin budgeting for the project several years ago was an important factor in the Corps of Engineers’ decision to make the levee project as one of its few “new starts” in recent years, Boles said.
“The Corps needed to know our community was fully committed to see this through and the fact that Topeka was ready to put our money where our mouth is made all the difference,” he said.
Initial work on the Oakland Unit is expected to be completed by October. That unit, completed in 1969, includes 10 miles of levee that protect neighborhoods with about 2,900 homes and 89 businesses.
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Information from: The Topeka (Kan.) Capital-Journal, https://www.cjonline.com
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