Building a new bridge over "The Cut" could also help the newest bike trail

(Photo by decorahnews.com's Steve Peterson)

As decorahnews.com reported in April (http://www.decorahnews.com/archived-stories/2016/04/13300.html), state inspectors gave the bridge on Oneota Drive over The Cut a "deficiency rating" earlier this year.  City of Decorah crews made some repairs to the bridge to prevent it from being closed to traffic.

Now we can report the existing bridge will probably be replaced in 2018--and in the process might help lower the cost of putting a bike trail culvert under Highway 52 near its HIghway 9 intersection.

That's because the two projects--although not related--could be done at the same time and that might lower the cost of the two projects, since the bigger combined project could attract more bidders.

The city and county had been studying a proposal to get bids on the culvert project as part of the State Transportation Department's bidding on the 2017 project to redo the HIghway 9/52 intersection.  Engineering consultant Lindsay Erdman says the problem with getting bids that way is that it would be the state and not the city which would determine if a bid was accepted and the city would be stuck if bids were higher than anticipated.

Delaying building a culvert under Highway 52 as part of the trail to be built connecting Decorah to the Prairie Farmers Trail would give local volunteers more time to raise donations.

Erdman says getting bids in January of 2018, for instance, might also be a way to save the city and county some money.  He says construction crews could do the projects one after the other, lowering some costs for the contractors.

The Trails of Winneshiek 28E Committee did not take an official vote on Erdman's proposal on Wednesday, but promised to come up with an answer next month, after checking back with city and county representatives.