By Dewey Terrill
Little Apple Post
Phase I of the levee improvement project has been completed in Manhattan. The reopening of the Linear Trial and and completion of the levee improvements were celebrated during a ribbon cutting on Wednesday.
U.S. Sen. Jerry Moran said in today's world with hurricanes that the ability of a community to provide protection from natural occurrences is very important. He noted it matters a lot "for the citizens who live here but also our capability of encouraging and recruiting others to come and find Manhattan and Riley County a great place to live."
The project, which is a partnership between the City of Manhattan and the Corps of Engineers, will provide crucial flood risk reduction for the city through substantially enhanced reliability and structural integrity. Construction of Phase I began in the fall of 2021 and was completed this September. The total construction cost of the project, including a future Phase II, is $46.2 million, of which 65 percent was funded by USACE and 35 percent was funded by the City of Manhattan.