Birds Point-New Madrid Floodway by residents and landowners since its inception. After the Great Mississippi Flood of 1927, the engineering policy on the Mississippi River changed from building levees high enough to withstand the greatest recorded flood to include floodways. The Flood Control Act of 1928 authorized the United States Army Corps of Engineers to construct the Birds Point-New Madrid Floodway in Missouri and the Morganza Spillway and Bonnet Carre Spillway in Louisiana. Even before its authorization, the Birds Point-New Madrid Floodway was the subject of controversy. In June 1927, President Calvin Coolidge instructed the Mississippi River Commission and the Corps of Engineers to
Mississippi River Basin Model 1937, 1943, 1945 and 1952 were reproduced, as well as hypothetical floods at different periods of the year. Tests on individual problems were conducted until 1971 but high costs and growth of computer modelling meant that the facility was put on standby. The last use was in 1973, when a potentially catastrophic failure arose at the Old River Control Structure. The model was used to show that the untested Morganza Spillway could be opened effectively, without diverting polluted water through New Orleans and Baton Rouge, as well as identifying levees that required topping up. In 1993 the site was taken