9 Jan 2024

Missouri River navigation restoration efforts hit major milestone despite challenges

2024 will mark five years since the historic flood of 2019 in Kansas City and the surrounding region. Water levels on the Missouri River reached heights not seen for decades and caused an estimated $2.9 billion in damages across the Midwest. While the historic flooding impacted many in the area in ways they will likely not soon forget, it might be hard to believe that just a couple of years after the historic flooding, the region entered a period of historic drought. With water levels now at historic lows, repairing the river’s navigation channel to its pre-flood condition has not been an easy feat.

11 Dec 2023

District Officer Introductory Course offers unique learning experience for junior officers

One common misconception about the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is that most people who work for the agency are in the military. In fact, of the roughly 37,000 people who work for USACE, only about 800 are active-duty military, with the vast majority being civilians. Because there are so few uniformed USACE employees across the enterprise, an annual course was developed to bring them together to learn about the organization from a military perspective. The District Officer Introductory Course is an annual course that is designed to bring junior officers from all over USACE together to learn, collaborate and network. This year’s course was hosted by the St. Louis District in St. Louis, from December 4 to 8. The Kansas City District and the Louisville District both supported the course.

17 Oct 2023

Peaks and valleys: Northwestern Division leverages regional project sharing to complete the mission

Comprised of nearly 37,000 employees, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is tasked with engineering solutions for the nation’s toughest challenges. Across the enterprise, many divisions and districts have seen a surge in workload over the last few years. While USACE has seen similar surges in the past, this increase in workload is larger than many can remember in recent history. The source of the current surge in workload is twofold. According to Col. Travis Rayfield, Kansas City District commander and district engineer, there has been an increase in funding from Congress through various infrastructure bills, which has resulted in more work across the enterprise. Additionally, The Economy Act allows federal agencies to enter into agreements to obtain supplies or services from another agency. This increase in funding for projects, coupled with an increase in resource sharing among agencies, has resulted in the surge in workload the enterprise is experiencing across the nation.

9 Dec 2021

Fort Leonard Wood Hospital Replacement Project marks a big milestone with “Topping Out” ceremony

Leaders from Fort Leonard Wood and the national, regional and state representatives present, signed the “last beam” which will be installed in its place atop the structure after the event for safety purposes. The construction team lighted an evergreen tree on the top of the structure during the ceremony to represent that milestone in the construction of the building. This “topping out” signals the move ahead to further construction progress on the hospital.

11 May 2021

N2W attracts diverse group of professionals for $1.7 billion construction project

The challenges and complexities of any Mega-Project are great, and the Next NGA West – known as N2W – project is no different. From the beginning of this military construction program for the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, USACE’s leadership wanted to attract a diverse and talented group of professionals.