Flood-prone piece of Sac and Fox Trail moving to higher ground

The city is pushing ahead with a plan to move a flood-prone section of the Sac and Fox Trail to higher ground between Mount Vernon Road and Rosedale Road.

Daniel Gibbins, the city's parks superintendent, on Tuesday said the $143,000 project will both elevate the one-third of a mile trail segment to higher ground and add appropriate ditches and culverts to keep water off the crushed-rock segment.

The segment along Indian Creek has washed out every few years, and moving it will mean that the trail section won't need to close for repairs because of flooding, Gibbins said.

The work is expected to be complete by spring.

Gibbins added that the city had hoped to elevate a longer piece of the trail segment, but he said the city did not have success in getting permission from private property owners to move the realigned trail onto their property.

The section of the Sac and Fox Trail in this area has been closed much of this year for the replacement of a section of a metro area sanitary sewer line. Moving the section of trail made sense in conjunction with the sewer project, Gibbins has said.

About half of the trail realignment work will be paid for with funds that are in the sewer project budget to put the trail back where it had been.

The sewer project has necessitated the removal of a swath of trees and brush along Indian Creek, and Gibbins said some 150 new trees are being planted along with sections of meadow and tall grass prairie.

The sewer contractor and the city have been discussing what to do about more than 20 mature trees lost to the project that had been marked for saving.

A map showing the proposed new alignment of the trail section was on display at a public meeting at the Indian Creek Nature Center from 4:30 to 6 p.m. Tuesday.