Community and Tribal leaders met with Arizona Senator Kyrsten Sinema this week in Winslow in celebrate full funding granted for the Winslow Levee Project.
The nearly $66 million is part of the Army Corps’ 2022 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs spending plan.
It will be used to construct the Little Colorado River Flood Control project, aimed at protecting the town of Winslow and surrounding communities from flooding.
The Little Colorado River has a long history of flooding. In 1878, flood waters destroyed a Mormon settlement in an area to the north which is now Interstate 40.
On New Year’s Eve 2004, a pipe failure of the Winslow Levee damaged Homolovi State Park, a significant archaeological and cultural site of Hopi history.
In March of 2020, Arizona Senators Kyrsten Sinema and Mark Kelly secured $500,000 in additional funding from the Fiscal Year 2022 budget legislation to cover planning, engineering, and design costs for the Winslow Levee project.