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  • May

    Five men stand side by side and the man on the second from the left holds a glass award.

    ‘Rooted in trust and respect’: Kansas Citys Levees team continues to deliver on commitment to Kansas City metro area

    Engineering, construction, planning, design — these are hard sciences, which require a systemic, methodical approach. While these sciences are by no means easy, they are easy to quantify. More challenging to quantify are the soft sciences — communication, trust, respect, partnership. Building structures is a science; building partnerships is an art. It might not always be obvious, but both are often required for a successful construction project. For the Kansas Citys Levees project team at the Kansas City District, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the art of building and maintaining a culture of partnership and collaboration has proved to be just as critical for success as the design and construction of the project have been. The $529 million project, which aims to improve the reliability and resiliency of 17 miles of existing levees in the Kansas City metro area, is unlike any other in the heartland.
  • A woman in a grey jacket and red shirt stands with her arms crossed in front of a brown wall with silver writing on it.

    Full transparency: National Inventory of Dams a ‘powerful tool’ in emergency planning

    No news is good news. This common phrase can apply to countless scenarios but when it comes to dam safety, no news really is good news. Dam safety is something that most people probably don’t think about daily. The reality is most people probably don’t stop to consider the safety of a dam unless there has been an emergency or other type of incident. Thankfully, there are a number of individuals who work day-in and day-out to ensure the safety of the more than 700 U.S. Army Corps of Engineers-owned and operated dams across the nation. The USACE Dam Safety Program uses a risk-informed approach to managing its dams, with life safety being the number one priority.

  • April

    A brown concrete structure with rock on either side and a cloudy sky in the background.

    ‘What we do here matters’: Smithville Lake conducts vital periodic inspection of dam to ensure safety

    It’s not every day that the stilling basin at Smithville Dam sits empty. However, before an inspection of the structure can be completed, it must be emptied so that staff from the lake and the Kansas City District, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers can enter and perform their inspection. Periodic inspections occur every five years to ensure the safety and integrity of the dam. Staff from the Kansas City District emptied Smithville Dam’s stilling basin and performed a thorough inspection over the course of several days in April.
  • A brown brick building with a brown awning.

    Improving quality of life at Whiteman Air Force Base

    Everyone knows home is where the heart is. The Whiteman Air Force Base Resident Office with the Kansas City District, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers understands this. That’s why they put their heart into making sure the Airmen at Whiteman Air Force Base have the best home possible. Recently, the team finished work on Discovery Hall, now the most updated dorm on base. This dorm was a team effort between USACE and the 509th Civil Engineer Squadron at Whiteman Air Force Base.
  • A two-story limestone building with two trees and grass in the foreground and a blue sky in the background.

    Enabling the warfighter: Fort Riley barracks renovations help to improve quality of life for soldiers

    Fort Riley, a U.S. Army installation located in north central Kansas, is known for many things: storied home of “The Big Red One,” early duty station of the infamous Gen. Custer, former home to two Buffalo Soldier regiments and once home of the prestigious Cavalry School in the early 20th century, just to name a few. Drive around the installation and it doesn’t take long to feel transported back in time. When you reach what is known as “main post,” the buildings transition from the standard red brick and beige concrete seen on many military installations, to native limestone, which was used for constructing the installation in the 1800s. Fort Riley’s Main Post Historic District was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1974, and includes 294 buildings, structures and monuments.

  • February

    Two men in hats and green jackets stand near four piles of concrete blocks with dirt in the foreground and a lake in the background.

    Sunken treasure: Fish Attractor Program at Pomme de Terre Lake benefits environment and recreators alike

    On an unseasonably warm day in February, the sun was shining and hardly a cloud could be found in the sky. Staff at Pomme de Terre Lake, along with staff from the Missouri Department of Conservation, were hard at work. The task? Sinking piles of cedar trees into the lake to create fish habitat. Attracting anglers from across the state and region, Pomme de Terre Lake’s partnership with MDC is vital to maintaining a healthy fish population. For the last 32 years, the Kansas City District, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and MDC have been working together to provide habitats for fish at Pomme de Terre Lake through its Fish Attractor Program.
  • A tan building with grass in the foreground and a tower to the left.

    Innovative project receives 2023 Department of the Air Force Design Award

    When you hear the word ‘merit’, you probably think of a great achievement or outstanding accomplishment. Both of those things could be used to describe the work of the Whiteman Air Force Base Resident Office, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Kansas City District on the Consolidated Operations Building at Whiteman Air Force Base, Missouri. The civil engineering team at Whiteman has done great work on this building, and their effort was recognized. The Combined Operations Building was selected as the recipient of a Merit Award for the 2023 Department of the Air Force Design Awards at the 14th annual Design and Construction Partnering Symposium, sponsored by the Air Force Civil Engineer Center.
  • Several people sit at a white table in an L shape with a beige wall in the background and grey carpet in the foreground.

    First meeting of task force set to address issues in the Kansas River Basin

    This month, a dedicated group of professionals took an important step for the health of Kansas water resources. On Jan. 18, 2024, the Kansas Reservoir Sedimentation Task Force, made up of representatives from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Kansas City and Tulsa districts, the Kansas governor’s office and the Kansas Water Office met for the first time as a formal working group in Topeka, Kansas. The group was assembled to collaborate on a solution for a major challenge facing the Kansas River Basin — sedimentation in reservoirs across the basin.

  • January

    A construction boat places rock on the river in the bottom left with the river and trees in the background.

    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.
  • A woman in a military uniform stands with wooden tables on her left and right and a grey file cabinet in the background.

    Safety first: Northwestern Division’s occupational health nurse hopes to prioritize health and safety across the division

    Active construction sites can be dangerous places. Full of heavy mechanical equipment and other hazards, the risk posed to the workers at these sites is often high. But there are other, less obvious workplace dangers that even those who spend their days behind a desk can face, like stress, high blood pressure and lack of support or fulfillment. Those charged with preventing and mitigating these workplace dangers play an important role in the success of an organization but are often in the background, working behind the scenes. Occupational health professionals and other safety specialists are the frontline for workplace safety. Yet their services can remain elusive to the very employees they serve.