Kansas City District News

‘Seeing is believing’: Project site visits provide valuable knowledge sharing opportunity

Published July 16, 2025
A woman in a yellow safety vest and a hardhat speaks to others in orange and yellow safety vests and hardhats on a dirt ground with a white pickup truck in the background.

Mack Landen, project manager with the Kansas City District, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Civil Works Branch, leads a site visit to the Swope Park Industrial Area project for employees to share their experiences and learn about the intersection of USACE civil works design and construction on May 16, 2025, in Kansas City, Missouri.

People in yellow safety vests and hard hats stand in a circle on dirt with green trees in the background.

Kansas City District employees participate in a site visit to the Swope Park Industrial Area project as part of a knowledge sharing opportunity on May 16, 2025, in Kansas City, Missouri.

People in orange and yellow safety vests and hardhats stand in a circle and talk with brown dirt and a grey chain link fence in the background.

Reed Brown, supervisory civil engineer in the Kansas City District’s Geotechnical Design and Dam Safety Section, speaks to district employees at a site visit to the Swope Park Industrial Area project as part of a knowledge sharing opportunity on May 16, 2025, in Kansas City, Missouri.

People in orange and yellow safety vests and hardhats stand on brown dirt with green trees and a blue sky in the background.

Kansas City District employees participate in a site visit to the Swope Park Industrial Area project as part of a knowledge sharing opportunity on May 16, 2025, in Kansas City, Missouri.

A white and red sign with black text stands in front of a dirt pile and grey chain link fence with blue sky in the background.

The Swope Park Industrial Area project, led by the Kansas City District, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, is a 7,000-foot ring levee, which consists of a floodwall and levee system, interior drainage system and detention pond. The project aims to provide critical flood risk reduction and ensure continued economic viability in Kansas City, Missouri. The final phase of construction began on May 14, 2025.

A man in a yellow safety vest and a hardhat points to a grey concrete wall with grey ground in the foreground and green trees in the background.

Andrew Marske, civil engineer in the Kansas City District’s Civil Works Design Section, speaks to district employees at a site visit to the Swope Park Industrial Area project as part of a knowledge sharing opportunity on May 16, 2025, in Kansas City, Missouri.

People in yellow safety vests and hardhats stand on dirt with an orange safety fence in the background and brown metal sheets to the right.

Kansas City District employees participate in a site visit to the Swope Park Industrial Area project as part of a knowledge sharing opportunity on May 16, 2025, in Kansas City, Missouri.

Brown metal components stand in a dirt trench with green trees in the background.

The Swope Park Industrial Area project, led by the Kansas City District, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, is a 7,000-foot ring levee, which consists of a floodwall and levee system, interior drainage system and detention pond. The project aims to provide critical flood risk reduction and ensure continued economic viability in Kansas City, Missouri. The final phase of construction began on May 14, 2025.

Two women, one in an orange safety vest and one in a yellow safety vest, and both with hardhats stand with brown metal sheets in the background.

Shelbi Swacker, civil engineer with the Kansas City District’s Hydrogeology Section, reviews the Swope Park Industrial Area project design at the construction site during a knowledge sharing opportunity on May 16, 2025, in Kansas City, Missouri.

Employees leave their jobs for many reasons. Some retire while others leave to explore new career opportunities. While workplace attrition is common across industries, it can pose a challenge to those left behind, especially when decades of institutional knowledge are also lost when the experienced employee departs.

Sometimes, there can be a gap in knowledge, skills or abilities when a senior employee leaves an organization. Mack Landen, project manager with the Kansas City District, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Civil Works Branch, saw a wave of employee departures and new hires at the district within the last few years not as a deficiency, but as an opportunity.

Recognizing the need for knowledge sharing among both seasoned and newer employees at the Kansas City District, Landen decided to organize a series of project site visits at an active civil works construction project.

“50% of our district’s employees are new within the last five years,” said Landen. “These site visits aimed to provide younger or newer USACE employees with firsthand experience in an area they will likely encounter in their design careers.”

Over the course of four weeks in May and June, around 30 employees voluntarily met with Landen and other senior technical experts at the Swope Park Industrial Area project in Kansas City, Missouri.

According to Landen, the project is a 7,000-foot ring levee, which consists of a floodwall and levee system, interior drainage system and detention pond. The project aims to provide critical flood risk reduction and ensure continued economic viability of the area.

With its final phase of construction beginning on May 14, the project became the perfect opportunity for district employees to gather on site, share their experiences and learn about the intersection of USACE civil works design and construction.

“While a design may seem sound on paper, aligning it with real-world conditions is crucial for sharpening design skills, identifying potential issues and minimizing problems,” said Landen. “Fostering a working relationship between design and construction can help designers refine their plans and contractors understand the engineering behind them.”

Kara Cline, hydraulic engineer with the Kansas City District was one of the employees who voluntarily attended a site visit Landen organized. For Cline, who has been with the district for seven years, it was an opportunity to get out from behind her desk and get into the field.

“Getting to see active construction is important for engineers who typically crunch numbers and run models at their desks all day,” she said. “It helps us become better at designing practical solutions.”

As a hydraulic engineer, Cline has worked on a variety of projects including flood risk management projects, ecosystem restoration projects, dam safety projects and watershed studies. She said getting out to an active construction site and discussing the project with more senior technical experts was a valuable learning experience.

“Things don’t always go according to plan out in the field, so we have to adapt and problem solve on the fly,” said Cline. “Knowledge sharing is important because it improves collaboration between disciplines. We can build on each other’s ideas and not have to reinvent the wheel.”

For Landen, providing co-workers with opportunities to share experiences and ideas at an active civil works construction project was important not only for individual professional development, but also for the district because collaborative exercises lead to building stronger teams. 

“For me, bridging this gap and ensuring both sides understand the ‘why’ is vital,” said Landen. “I often say, ‘make it make sense’ and for many, seeing is believing.”