Flurry of flood control projects underway in Cedar Rapids

CEDAR RAPIDS — Nearly 30 projects for Cedar Rapids’ flood control plan are slated to begin in the next few years or have already begun, pulling together federal, state and city funding to build the infrastructure necessary to withstand future flooding on the Cedar River.

Ten years after the historic 2008 flood and amid constant pressure from Iowa and Cedar Rapids officials, Congress appropriated $117 million for flood prevention efforts in 2018.

That same year, the City Council raised the property tax levy by 22 cents for 10 years in order to issue $200 million in bonds over the next decade.

Another nearly $300 million in state and federal grants will bring together the capital needed for the project, which is expected to cost $750 million over 20 years, adjusted for inflation.

Work on the flood control system has been ongoing since 2019, but an uptick in federal and state funding this year meant work ramped up across the city.

The city had already completed several pieces of the flood plan before this year, including a roller gate at 16th Avenue SE, levees and detention basins in NewBo and Czech Village, pump stations, the McGrath Amphitheatre and the Northwest Memorial.

What’s happened since

The city recently finished a facility at McGrath Amphitheatre that will act as a flood wall and provide amenities during events at the amphitheater.

The building will provide a public restroom and storage facility, and the flood wall will be built into it. The wall and the second floor of the building will be above the 2008 flood level, Cedar Rapids flood control manager Rob Davis said.

The strategy of building flood protection into functional structures is one the city will use frequently, Davis said, to avoid the feeling of being shut off from the river but provide protection when necessary.

“The river is really the centerpiece of most cities, they were built around there,” he said. “Why would you permanently wall yourself off from that which was your lifeline for so long?”

Davis said the facility at the amphitheater is expected to be ready for comedian Iliza Shlesinger’s show July 23.

As the amphitheater project wraps up, the city will begin work on a roller floodgate on First Avenue SE, similar to what was installed at 16th Avenue SE. The 77-foot gate can be rolled across the street during flooding to keep water out.

Work has already begun in the area moving storm sewers away from the gate and putting up new traffic signals to direct traffic during the main project.

The street will remain open with lane reductions for most of the year, Davis said, while crews build a foundation on the street for the gate. The gate itself will be brought in in 2022, he said.

Davis said the city will try to keep construction-related street closures and parking restrictions minimal. He noted that planners time projects so two major streets or adjacent streets aren’t blocked off at the same time.

“We know there’s going to be traffic impacts, but we do try to schedule the work so they are limited,” he said.

The city also has opened bids for a levee at Cedar Lake, another rolling floodgate near the Czech & Slovak Museum & Library, and a project to upgrade storm sewers and connect two pump stations downtown.

Comments: (319) 398-8473; caleb.mccullough@thegazette.com