On Monday, City Council approved a partnership between the city and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for restoration work on the South Platte River, taking a step toward ensuring the health of the waterway.
"The agreement outlines how the entities will partner to restore ecosystems and natural habitats along a 6.5-mile stretch of the South Platte River from 6th Avenue to 58th Avenue and reduce flood risks along Weir and Harvard Gulches," Department of Transportation and Infrastructure spokesperson Nancy Kuhn wrote in a press release Monday.
At the federal level, the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and Water Resource Development Act authorized the project at $550 million. The project is getting an initial $350 million in federal funding; the rest of the money will come from city sources in the future.
The project is anticipated to take about 10 years, and Council's approval of the partnership with the U.S. Army Corps is just one of many steps.
"This is an unprecedented agreement with the Army Corps," said Ashlee Grace, Waterway Resiliency Program Director, during a Council committee presentation in early April. "A pretty core principal to this entire thing is working to improve environmental justice throughout the city," and added that a majority of the project improvements will occur in communities where Denver has historically underinvested.
The project will also allow the city to get started on pedestrian and cyclist improvements to the South Platte River Trail.
"It will allow us to start to fulfill some of our recreational vision along these waterways by creating new and or improved trail segments along the South Platte River and Weir Gulch," Grace said.
The project is part of citywide plans to ensure the environmental health and safety of Denver waterways.
Goals include restoring part of the river, reducing flood risks and ensuring the health of habitats and ecosystems along the South Platte.
The project has historic relevance for people who remember the 1965 Flood, when the South Platte River flooded, killing 21 people, submerging roads, drowning livestock and destroying millions of dollars worth of property.
"Many of our family neighbors, community members, remember the flood of 1965, and this effort has been the attempt to try to keep another devastating flood from claiming more lives and livelihoods again," said Council President Jamie Torres during City Council on Monday.
Torres shared comments from a community member, who recalled driving to get groceries and seeing people sitting on the street with boxes of their belongings, houses destroyed. Torres shared a personal connection as well.
"My aunt's home was destroyed and she gets choked up recalling that memory," she said. "We have an obligation in this city to plan better because we know better, and an obligation to ensure families are out of harm's way."
