Crews expect to remove the final giant sandbags this week from along the Green River levees in Kent.

AGR Contracting, Inc. had removed more than 17,000 of the nearly 20,000 sandbags through Sept. 7, according to city officials.

The last of the sandbags near the Riverbend Golf Complex are expected to be removed this week. Crews started to remove the sandbags on July 10.

Crews will begin making repairs this week to sections of the trail damaged by the sandbags. Trail users are urged to observe signage and use caution as crews work through the system to make the repairs. Minor repairs are needed throughout the trail system.

The city awarded the $894,628 contract to AGR Contracting of Monroe.

Crews placed 3-foot high sandbags along the trail three years ago for extra flood protection along the levees after the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers discovered a January 2009 storm had damaged an abutment next to the Howard Hanson Dam on the upper Green River. The Corps completed repairs to the dam last fall. No heavy rainstorms ever tested the sandbags.

The King County Flood Control District will cover most of the cost of the sandbag removal by delaying certain levee projects along the river. The district is funded through a county-wide property levy of 10 cents per $1,000 assessed value.