Businesses, transportation corridors protected as repairs completed on damaged Green River levee

Popular Green River Valley Trail set to reopen as construction winds down

King County has won the race against time and is completing repairs to a damaged Green River levee in advance of fall storms.

Weakened by persistent rainfall that resulted in sustained high flows in the river for several days in 2006, a 400-foot-long portion of the aging Briscoe School Levee has been rebuilt in partnership with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and is once again ready to provide a high level of protection to a wide swath of the economically valuable Green River Valley throughout Kent, Renton and Tukwila.

"This portion of the Briscoe School Levee protects a commercial area of more than five square miles in size that includes about 500 light manufacturing, warehouses and distribution facilities, so repairing this damaged levee before the fall storms came was a top priority for us," said Mark Isaacson, director of King County's Water and Land Resources Division.

The levee also protects numerous roads that provide transportation access between Auburn, Kent, and Renton, and utilities that supply gas and electricity to the many businesses.

The levee reconstruction project was one of the top priorities identified in the adopted 2006 King County Flood Hazard Management Plan and by the King County Flood Control Zone District.

This countywide district was formed earlier this year to help address the backlog in maintenance and repairs to the county's levees and other flood-prevention structures.

The King County Flood Control Zone District Board of Supervisors is considering funding for the district on Nov. 13 at 10:30 a.m. in County Council chambers.

Completion of the $834,000 project, which was funded by King County and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, also means the popular Green River Valley Trail will soon reopen along its original path.

Trail users have had to follow a marked detour around the construction site since levee reconstruction got under way in early August. The 12-mile-long paved trail runs atop the levee through this portion of the valley.

King County has more than 500 flood control facilities, including about 119 miles of levees. This system protects thousands of lives and
billions of dollars of economic activities.

Isaacson said the construction site will be re-vegetated with native trees and shrubs to strengthen slope stability and improve riparian habitat.