DENVER — Local and federal government officials signed a deal Monday that will provide millions of dollars for flood system management, ecosystem restoration and recreation on Denver metro area waterways, including the South Platte River and two of its tributaries.
The Waterway Resiliency Program will restore a 6.5-mile stretch of the South Platte River from 6th to 58th avenues in Denver and Adam counties. It will create more spaces for plants, animals and people, and will also reduce flooding risks along the Weir and Harvard gulches.
> Video above from February: Metro Water Recovery is helping aquatic life in South Platte River thrive again.
“This program is an extraordinary opportunity to restore and conserve our waterways so that residents for generations from now will continue to reap its benefits,” Denver Mayor Michael Hancock said in a news release.
The partnership agreement signed Monday by Hancock and Michael Connor, assistant secretary of the Army of Civil Works of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, establishes project outputs, cost share splits, funding reimbursement requirements and designates the City and County of Denver as the lead in project delivery.
The project was initially authorized under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and Section 401(4) of the 2020 Water Resource Development Act at a cost of $550 million. In April 2022, it was announced that $330 million in federal funding had been approved for the project.
Part of the project's goals is to provide some of Denver's most vulnerable and under-resourced neighborhoods with trails, access points and park-based recreation features.
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