By ROB NIELSEN, Yankton Press and Dakotan
YANKTON, S.D. (AP) — A key component to the rebuilding of the Auld-Brokaw Maintenance and Recreational Trail System and stabilizing the banks of Marne Creek is about to commence.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency has been providing notice of its intent to relevant parties of its plans to conduct an environmental study on the project meant to fix damages incurred during the 2019 bomb cyclone.
Yankton Public Works Director Adam Haberman told the Press & Dakotan that this is a very intricate requirement.
“It takes a number of things into consideration from an environmental aspect,” he said. “It includes looking at things like geology, water quality, air quality, floodplain, wetlands, the aquatic environment, and threatened and endangered species,” he said. “It looks at historical aspects of the area, archeological resources and it allows a lot of the agencies — like the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Services, Game, Fish & Parks, the historic preservation office, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and all those types of entities — to come together, take a look and make sure that everything’s good with this project in regards to their part of the environment.”
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He said that the study will take well into 2022 to complete.
“They’ll actually go out and see if there’s any of these endangered or threatened species that can be found along this corridor,” he said. “Some of those things have to be done at certain times of the year. You can’t just get it all done in November. … It’s a lot of coordination between agencies and making sure they’re notified and have a chance to comment.”
The damage to the trail system occurred in March 2019 when a bomb cyclone dumped more than three inches of rain on frozen and saturated ground, causing Marne Creek to rapidly swell. The heaviest damage to the trail and the creek’s banks occurred along a stretch between the Fourth Street/Highway 50 overpass and Burleigh Street.
As the environmental assessment gets underway, Haberman said other important work is going on behind the scenes.
“Banner Engineering is working on the design still,” he said. “They’re at what we’d call a 30% design on the project. We’re real close to taking that design, sitting down at the table with FEMA and going through the 30% design and getting their comments on that. Then we’ll take that and be able to move deeper into design to get closer to the final design.”
Bidding is anticipated to take place sometime in the fall of 2022.
At that point, it will be decided whether to finish the project all at once or in segments.
“All of the damages are included in this design,” Haberman said. “When it comes to construction — depending on what the dollar amounts look like — we may have to pick and choose parts that are damaged to repair at one time. It would be favorable if we could do the whole project at one time, but it just depends on the dollars required.”
An estimate of costs is not available at this time.
Haberman said there is ultimately a method to taking time on such a large project.
“We just want to make sure we’re doing things right the first time when it comes to doing it how FEMA wants to see it done,” he said.
He added the city will continue to work with state and federal partners to make sure the project is done correctly. “We’re just happy to see the project taking steps forward,” he said. “We’re working really close with FEMA and the state Emergency Management Office to make sure we’re doing everything correctly along the way so that, when we get to the end, we have a good product and good project put together and didn’t miss something that could cause a bigger setback.”
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