OMAHA, Neb. -- The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Omaha District awarded an $183,000 construction contract to repair the damages to the Pierce – North Branch Elkhorn River Right Bank levee system Wednesday.
The Pierce levee system, damaged by the 2019 spring flooding, is approximately 2.5 miles long, running along the northern and western boundary of the City of Pierce, Nebraska. This system provides an increased level of flood risk management for over 550 structures and approximately 1,100 people.
“This is the first of full rehabilitation projects to begin addressing damages to the smaller tributary systems throughout the Omaha District Area of Responsibility that were damaged during the 2019 spring flooding,” said Jeff Bohlken, Program Manager for the Omaha District Systems Restoration Team. “However, we are anticipating that we will have 5-10 more of the tributary projects ready for award within the next two months to continue these repair efforts.”
The contract was awarded to Niewohner Construction of Onawa, Iowa, and the period of performance for the contact is 60 calendar days. The repairs will restore the levee system to its pre-flood condition.
There are more than 500 miles of levees on the Missouri, Platte and Elkhorn rivers, and tributaries that have experienced significant flood damage since March 2019. Due to the magnitude of damage along these levees, repair of the levee system efforts will take an extended period of time to execute.
Omaha District’s focus remains on ensuring the safety of citizens and communicating the conditions on the river systems to all of our partners and stakeholders. The Corps continues to provide flood fight assistance to state, local and tribal government agencies.
For regular updates on the repair efforts to flood control structures in the Missouri River Basin, visit the Omaha District’s System Restoration web page at: https://www.nwo.usace.army.mil/Omaha-District-System-Restoration-Team/.
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Release no. 19-099