Thursday, November 20, 2008

Third Time's a Charm?

In other infrastructure plans, the council unanimously agreed to apply for a grant — for the third time — to fund a tunnel under County Highway 14 along Clearwater Creek. Larson said this may be the last chance for the city to secure such a grant.
The route would be used for bicyclists and students who want a safer way to cross the road on their way to school, Capra said.
City Engineer Mark Statz (Bonestroo Consultant) said the project has a better chance of getting funded this time by the Minnesota Department of Transportation.
“(The safe route) is rising to the top of this next budget cycle,” he said.
One concern about the proposed tunnel is spring flooding of Clearwater Creek, which could submerge the path and render it useless for extended time periods. Partially draining the creek and lowering its level below the proposed path could help alleviate the problem, Statz said.
Another concern was voiced by council member Tom Lee, who believes the added construction will make things worse on Highway 14.
“It will be a nuisance for everyone for more than a day,” he said.
Statz estimated that construction of such a path would take about a month and a half.

Quad Press
Nicholas Backus
Tuesday, 11/18/2008

How much money do you suppose this will cost the citizens of Centerville? Partially draining a creek could be a pretty penny if not completely covered under the proposed grant. The tunnel on Birch Street frequently floods...

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

What do you suppose it would cost to lower the creek. What affect would this have on the creek up or down stream? Now that so much was spent on colored cement, new street construction, landscaping, why do they want to start all over and spend even more money. Maybe they should attend "spending anonymous" for therapy. Would it even help?

Anonymous said...

I think Rice Creek Watershed will have a great deal to say about this.

Anonymous said...

Didn't they put the colored concrete and all those $^^&*&** lights out there for saftey??? Now they want a tunnel? Oh but they might get a grant for it. Hello...wake up council....grants are not free money. How are we going to maintain this tunnel and repair the flooding issues that are bound to happen? Especially after all these trails around the City are built and we have to maintain them as well. Or did you not think of that either? No of course not........you are all busy trying to make this Woodbury or (fill in another large suburb here) you have no common sense.

This City is nuts...............let me out of here.

Anonymous said...

ARE YOU FREAKING NUTS ???????????