DENVER -- Residents in North Denver may be breathing a little easier now that a major flood control project has been completed along the South Platte River.

Denver's mayor, the manager of public works, city council representative, a U.S. senator and an official from the Urban Drainage and Flood Control District dedicated the project in the Globeville neighborhood Monday morning.

"This part of North Denver has been a flood risk for literally 100 years," said Mayor John Hickenlooper.

He was talking about a stretch of land on the west side of the river from the Pepsi plant up to the Adams County line.

"We've lived in that area all our lives," said Dennis Lovato, who was walking on the path with his granddaughter, Alise Vigil.

Looking at the fish ladder and upstream pool Alise said, "Well, I love it. It's called the lake. It's beautiful."

When asked if he ever worried about flooding, Lovato replied, "Oh yeah, we were here in 1965 when the floods came."

The big flood of 1965 killed 21 people and damaged or destroyed hundreds of homes and businesses, mainly in the Sheridan and Englewood areas.

Former Denver Mayor Wellington Webb remembers the damage.

"It was shocking," Webb said. "Cars were in the river and were being thrown to the side. And people were being taken out of their homes."

The city and county of Denver and the Urban Drainage and Flood Control District have just spent $25 million to lessen the likelihood of that every happening again.

"We basically increased the carrying capacity of the river here for flood flows," said David Lloyd, executive director of the flood control district.

Lloyd said they increased capacity by widening the river channel, building levees and rock walls.

"By doing so," he said, "we were able to remove 300 acres of land from that flood plain."

The project includes a widened bike and pedestrian path linking Denver to Adams County and to the new wildlife refuge at the Rocky Mountain Arsenal.

"We really are looking at what will be a historic crown jewel of open space and wildlife that citizens for generations and generations will come to know and celebrate here in Denver," said Sen. Ken Salazar.