The people who oversee 64 miles of aging Mississippi River levees in southwestern Illinois have signed off on a $151 million plan to upgrade the barriers perhaps by 2014.
The the Southwestern Illinois Flood Prevention District Council adopted the proposal Wednesday involving levees in Madison, St. Clair and Monroe counties.
Officials expect the upgrades to be funded largely by a quarter-cent sales tax.
The plan comes as the that many worry could deem their levees functionally useless. That .
Information certifying the levees as capable of withstanding the minimum threshold of a 100-year flood is expected to be submitted to federal authorities in 2015.
