Construction has started on $459 million in improvements to levees along the Trinity River west of Downtown Dallas. The first phase is a $56 million project to raise levees on both sides of the river and flatten the slope.
"These improvements will undoubtedly address years of waiting and protect our residents' lives and property," said Dallas City Councilman Omar Narvaez.
"Public safety has always been the number one priority in the Army Corps of Engineers' levee safety program," said Col. Jonathan Stover, Commander of the Fort Worth District of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. "The Dallas Floodway system is a great example of this."
The project was funded through the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said the federal government is providing $298 million in funding.
"In my first campaign, West Dallas and the Roosevelt section of South Dallas were underwater," said Congresswoman Eddie Bernice Johnson. "I promised I'd do all I could to ensure that didn't continue to happen because flooding is the most common natural disaster in the United States."
Stover said the project will focus on flood protection, ecosystem restoration, and recreation.
Narvaez said construction will start on two additional pump stations in the next year and a half, and additional plans include a lake.
"This is a milestone that West Dallas residents have been waiting over 20 years to see come to fruition," Narvaez said.
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