A recent story in The Star:

A $19 million project to prevent flooding on the Northside will detour nearly 11,000 drivers a day in the Broad Ripple area through the end of May.

Westfield Boulevard closed last month from Broad Ripple Avenue to 64th Street, said Steve Hardiman, Department of Public Works assistant public information officer. "The purpose of the closure is to allow Bowen Engineering, in conjunction with Veolia Water, to pump canal water from the east side of Westfield Boulevard to the west side of Westfield Boulevard during construction in the canal," Hardiman said. The pumping is necessary because of the Army Corps of Engineers' Indianapolis North Flood Damage Reduction project. The Veolia project is secondary to the Corps of Engineers' project, said Angie Dye, spokeswoman for Veolia and Indianapolis Water. The pumping operation will run 24 hours a day and pump about 85 million gallons of water a day down the canal to Indianapolis Water, Hardiman said. The project is designed to protect 2,400 homes near White River from a 100-year flood. The Federal Emergency Management Agency is contributing $14.25 million. The city is paying the remaining $4.75 million. The cost of the current phase of work, called the Broad Ripple section, is about $7 million, said Carol Labashosky, corps spokeswoman. In this phase, construction includes 3.5 miles of flood wall and earthen levee on the east bank of White River in the Broad Ripple area.