[9] In 1885, the Dubuque and Northwestern Railroad acquired right of way along Elm Street and the Bee Branch, leading to an increase of development.

[4] The Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway aided in the construction of the sewer as their yards straddled the creek.

The railroad would build the Elm Street Sewer and the pledged work would be finished by the latter part of 1905.

[4] The year of 1999, along with 2002, 2004, 2008, 2010, and 2011, collectively saw devastating floods, prompting six presidential disaster declarations with estimated costs around $70 million.

[4][19] The creek is more open than its previous sewer design, allowing a greater volume of water to be carried.

[23] Citizens also worried the daylighted creek would be ugly or unsafe[24] or raise utility bills.

[25] Six houses, a parking lot, and 9,400,000 cubic feet (270,000 m3) of soil were removed to make space for the creek.

[26] The city also tried to minimize impermeable surfaces causing flooding by converting alleyways into permeable sections.

[27] Many artifacts from the late 19th to early 20th centuries were found, including: buttons, bottles, ceramics, and smoking pipes.

[30][31] By October 2021, the city had finished building culverts under the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) to route the creek through.

[29] The Bee Branch received publicization in the likes of The Atlantic, Scientific American, and U.S. News & World Report.

[41] The culvert that feeds the Upper Bee Branch comes from those detention basins deeper in town.

[40] The Bee Branch is split into two sections by the Canadian Pacific Railway and Garfield Avenue.

[1] The geography of the north end of Dubuque, specifically its steepness, makes it more likely for floods to happen.

[18][43][44] Dubuque commissioned Origin Design to plan and build up the bridges of the upper and lower sections.

[17] The greenway includes a playground, an amphitheater, a garden, a bioswale, benches, lighting, and rest areas.

[45] The Bee Branch's trail is 1.56 miles (2.51 km) long and is paved with asphalt and concrete.

[49] In the Lower Bee Branch, 14 native species of fish and the common carp have been found in it.

[16] In July 2017, the city of Dubuque installed 14 floating islands in the creek between 16th Street and the US Route 151/61 overpass.

The islands provide habitats and pull excess nutrients out of the water, like phosphorus, nitrogen, and floating sediments.

[21][16] Some types of plants on the islands include: sedges, blue flag iris, marsh marigold.

[50] On June 11, 2020, 2,500 freshwater mussels, given by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service, were released into the Bee Branch.

[51] In past years, the Iowa DNR have been making an effort to return mussel populations to waterways.

[53] However, about a week later, on June 18, 2020, Gavilon Grain spilled two containers with a million gallons of liquid nitrogen fertilizer into the Bee Branch.

[54] An estimated 432,000 U.S. gallons (1,640,000 L) of fertilizer was spilled into a storm drain that flows into the Bee Branch.

[52][54] The largest fine of $244,705 was issued to restore giant floater and plain pocketbook mussels.

Thirdly, Gavilon asked the DNR for permission to flush the sewer to remove any ammonia left in there.