LOVELAND, Colo. (AP) - Work has begun in northern Colorado on a $4 million project to improve the habitat in and around the Big Thompson River and make the waterway itself more resilient to flooding.

The project is being done on a stretch of river in west Loveland where floods in 2013 caused damage.

The Loveland Reporter-Herald reports that the project is designed to be fish and wildlife friendly as well as conducive to the natural tendencies of the river. The project includes a channel design that should result in less overall destruction from floods.

Project designer Rachel Williams says the changes give the river more room to spread out instead of keeping it pinched up in a smaller channel.

Construction is expected to wrap up by summer.

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