Design-Build: Flood Zone Now Home to River Road Logistics

The Missouri River runs between Omaha, Nebraska and Council Bluffs, Iowa. Though pretty and purposeful, the river is prone to flooding, particularly in Council Bluffs, which sits in the river basin. Levees protect much of the city, but many properties remain within a flood plain, making them seemingly undevelopable.

But where some developers may see problems, we see opportunity, as we did with a 40-acre waterlogged parcel of marsh located inside a Council Bluffs flood zone. Working closely with city leaders in Council Bluffs, we master planned the plot and built a two-building industrial development to address the ongoing demand for modern industrial space throughout the greater Omaha area.

Our efforts on what is today River Road Logistics required a great deal of creativity, collaboration and civil engineering expertise.

• By conducting a comprehensive topographical analysis, we found, and the Army Corp of Engineers agreed, that the wetlands comprising 13 of the site’s acres were non-jurisdictional and not part of the greater Missouri River watershed, which gave us the green light to pursue development.

• The site presented significant access limitations with neighboring private properties that necessitated development of a complex and innovative public-private water drainage solution. This unique solution included placing a force main in the city sewer easement and tying into the city outfall structure. An on-site pumping station diverts 100% of the storm water that falls on the site 2,600 feet to the Missouri River. Had it not been for this creative solution, the site would have remained unfeasible for development.

• The above mentioned water drainage solution required that the drainage pipe run under a busy rail line. We worked with both the railroad company and the city to attain the additional permitting this required.

• To address soil issues and provide additional protection from flooding, we raised the site’s elevation four to seven feet. In another public-private partnership, we sourced the necessary backfill from the Department of Transportation, which was working on a nearby road reconstruction project.

• As a result of our civil engineering expertise and close collaboration with city leaders in Council Bluffs, we turned one of the community’s most underutilized pieces of property and delivered a two-building Class A industrial development with a total of 538,000-square feet.

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