DES MOINES, Iowa - The Rock Island District of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the City of Des Moines invite the public to help celebrate the substantial completion of the Birdland Park Levee in Des Moines with a ribbon cutting ceremony, November 15 at 3 p.m. The ceremony is being held next to the Saylor Road closure gate structure, at the northwest corner of Union Park (intersection of Saylor Road and Guthrie Avenue).
The $8.1 million contract to reconstruct the Birdland Park levee was awarded to Ceres Environmental Services, Inc. in March 2010. The project consisted of degrading the existing levee and rebuilding a compacted earthen embankment along most of the original alignment, adding stone protection, construction or modification of gatewell structures and pump stations, construction of a steel roller gate across Saylor Road, and the addition of a multipurpose trail including a new connection to McHenry Park.
The project provides an increased level of protection against a 1 percent chance flood event for homes, businesses, and North High School. Although final grading and seeding is yet to be completed, the new levee system is able to withstand the design flood in its current condition.
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For technical questions about the project, please contact Tom Heinold, (309) 794-5203, Thomas.D.Heinold@usace.army.mil.
Release no. FY12-11-06