WEST MEMPHIS, Tenn. - A major project to restore hundreds of acres of floodplains in West Memphis along the Mississippi River's western bank will be made to protect transportation infrastructure.
Federal officials made an announcement that the City of West Memphis will receive more than $16 million out of a $830 million pool of funds to ensure transportation infrastructure nationwide.
The improvements will better protect four significant transportation routes that cross east and west at Downtown Memphis into Arkansas, including Interstate 40, Interstate 55, and two freight rail lines.
The flood protection improvements will also help shield that specific area's lone dedicated bicycle/pedestrian crossing, according to a media release, that's connected to the Big River Crossing's over "Ol' Man River."
“From wildfires shutting down freight rail lines in California to mudslides closing down a highway in Colorado, from a drought causing the halt of barge traffic on the Mississippi River to subways being flooded in New York, extreme weather, made worse by climate change, is damaging America’s transportation infrastructure, cutting people off from getting to where they need to go, and threatening to raise the cost of goods by disrupting supply chains,” said U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg.
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