Neal Smith trail reconstruction update

Thu February 23 2006
Posted Feb 23, 2006
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The 2005 SAFETEA-LU highway bill provided $3.672 million in funding to reconstruct major segments of the Corps-managed portion of the Neal Smith Trail. The fact that the Corps of Engineers has never received money from this funding source has created challenges, namely creating a mechanism to transfer the funds from the Federal Highway Administration to the Corps. Efforts are currently underway to develop a sub-agreement between the Rock Island District and FHWA to supplement the existing Memorandum of Agreement between the two agencies. We don't expect to see any funding to begin actual reconstruction activities this fiscal year. Saylorville Lake has begun the reconstruction process by funding initial engineering/design and the environmental assessment activities out of our operating budget. Saylorville Lake has spent over $40,000 to begin this project with the hope that we will be positioned to proceed to design and construction activities when authorized funding arrives. The staff of Saylorville Lake is as anxious as our users to see significant improvement made to the "backbone" of the central Iowa trail system. More about the Neal Smith Trail reconstruction. Steve Fairbanks Operations Project Manager Saylorville Lake