$125M project will revamp Des Moines' levee system

A number of Des Moines bike trails will be closed in the coming weeks as part of an effort to keep the city above water.In 2008, Downtown Des Moines was rocked by historic flooding. Now, the city is revamping the levee system with a $125 million project to ensure it doesn't happen again. KCCI spoke with Aaron Kline, a Des Moines resident who was 17 in 2008."It's hard to imagine that ever happened," Kline said. "I was just a young kid. I don't remember much. I just remember you couldn't come downtown at that time." When the city's levee system was overwhelmed, Court Avenue was overwhelmed. People walked in knee-high water, barricading their businesses. "There could be hundreds of millions of dollars if it ended up flooding again like it did in 2008. Thus why we're modifying the levees to reduce the chance of that happening again," said Patrick Beane, of the Des Moines Clean Water Program. Des Moines has put together an eight phase, $125 million project to revamp the city's levee system. They're working on phase two now, so in a week, Meredith Trail will be closed from Southwest 2nd Street to Southwest 9th Street.Beane says they're raising the levees anywhere from half a foot to a couple feet higher."We're not just raising it to the absolute minimum. We're actually building some resiliency in and we're going half-foot above what the minimum requirement is," Beane said. That's to brace for whatever weather the future brings. Des Moines is spending more on storm water than ever before. Beane says it will help protect the city's infrastructure from future flooding, but this project will take some time."We're going to be doing this for the next 10-plus years to get through all these projects," Beane said. Meredith Trail will be closed until October. Beane says when this project is completely wrapped up it will give the city the opportunity to expand and add more bike trails.