Crawford County Board
Grant approved
for $4.17 million
County N project
By Ted Pennekamp
Highway Commissioner Dennis Pelock gave a presentation to the Crawford County Board Tuesday morning regarding a federal grant for $2.98 million for the Famechon Hill Project to be conducted on part of Highway 35 and County N.
The project will involve reconstruction of the intersection of Highway 35 and County N and also 1.5 miles of County N going up the hill from Highway 35. The project is scheduled to begin in 2019.
Design on the project began in the fall of 2012 and the county entered into a contract for design in early 2013, said Pelock. Public hearings were held in 2014 and 2015 with great attendance.
The grant application through the Eastern Federal Lands Access Program was submitted in November of 2016. The project was recently approved and a grant for $2.98 million will be received. The total cost of the project is expected to be $4.17 million. Crawford County has $976,000 budgeted for the project and needs to raise another $214,088, according to Pelock.
“We don’t anticipate any problems raising $214,088 within the next two years,” Pelock said. “We are pleased that this project has been approved and we can now move forward.”
The highway department has proposed to do the project in two phases. Phase 1 will include the new intersection of County N and Highway 35 as well as a new box culvert, retaining wall, new entrance to the Spring Lake Restaurant and Motel, and new roadway construction and permanent erosion control to stabilize Phase 1 and prepare for Phase 2. Phase 1 will also include all the design engineering, grading, base, pavement, right of way acquisition and approximately 50 percent of the construction engineering.
Phase 2 will complete the rest of the project and will include all grading, base, pavement, permanent erosion control, signing, pavement markings and construction engineering.
“This project will create great improvements towards highway safety on County N and the County N/Highway 35 intersection,” said Pelock.
Pelock explained that the Federal Lands Access Program provides funding for projects involving roadways that provide access to federal lands. County N and Highway 35 provide access to Ambrough Slough, Lock and Dam 9, and Effigy Mounds National Monument.
