The Biden-Harris administration unveiled infrastructure plans for Tennessee, which includes billions of dollars in spending on roads and bridges people use every day.
Even more federal money is coming to Southwest Memphis, aimed at restoring the area's wetlands and also to help prevent future flooding.
The groundbreaking of South Cypress Creek Wetland and Stream Restoration Project took place on Monday, May 13. The director of Memphis and Shelby County Division of Planning and Development — John Zeanah — was in attendance to remind the crowd that the county sustained severe floods from a series of rain events and from a heightened river level of the Mississippi River in 2011.
"We received a $60 million grant to be able to address the three areas that were impacted by floods," Zeanah said.
Shelby County commissioner Edmond Ford Jr. was at the event as well.
"It's been a long time coming," he said.
Kathy Robinson, a Walker Homes resident, said the groundbreaking was "something that this community has been waiting on for years."
Memphis mayor Paul young said "this is an example of how government is supposed to work."
"We need government to come together to solve problems and so that's what's happening right here today," Young said.
Resident Robinson described her account of the flooding in 2011.
"It was a scary feeling to see houses that you grew up walking past just flooded in water," she said. "You couldn't even get to it and then you heard the sad stories of some individuals that were stuck in their homes."
Fellow resident Kevin Bailey said, at the time, he helped out as much as he could.
"I just walked around to see who I could help and seeing, like, boats," he said. "I never thought I would see a boat — on water — in my street, you know? That was something."
Zeanah said that, on May 13, work for the future begun.
"Today we're excited about to begin the work on addressing stream restoration of South Cypress Creek to prevent issues and events like what happened in 2011 from happening again in the future."