Safety Assurance Review – Kansas City Levees

Challenges

The Kansas City Levee system consists of seven levee units located near the confluence of the Kansas River and Missouri River in metropolitan Kansas City.  The system consists of 52 miles of levees and floodwalls, pump stations, closures, and appurtenances that protect over $22 billion of key infrastructure.  A feasibility study identified the existing levee system does not have enough capacity to meet its authorized level of protection.

Solution

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers – Kansas City District (USACE-KCD) developed a levee improvement plan that included structural improvements to levees, floodwalls and pump stations; underseepage improvements; and raising levees along the Kansas City River by approximately 4 feet.  The total project cost is anticipated to be about $450 million.

RJH was retained by the USACE-KCD to perform Safety Assurance Reviews (SARs) of improvements to the Argentine, Armourdale, and Central Industrial District (CID) Levee Units. The SARs consist of independent, external peer reviews by technical experts to assess the acceptability of the design and construction activities to assure public health, safety, and welfare.

Improvements for the Argentine, Armourdale, and CID levee units included: raising about 17 miles of levees/floodwalls by up to 4 feet, adding about 600 feet of floodwall, replacing two pump stations, modifying eight pump stations, abandoning two pump stations, installing about 200 relief wells, and other miscellaneous repairs.  RJH’s SAR panel consisted of geotechnical, structural, hydrologic, and hydraulic engineering experts.  The RJH panel provided review comments to USACE-KCD, developed and evaluated a list of critical project components, considered the likelihood and consequences of failure, and prioritized each item relative to identified risk.