Cedar Rapids raising flood-prone piece of Sac & Fox Trail

Cedar Rapids officials are pushing ahead on a plan to move to higher ground a half-mile, flood-prone section of the Sac and Fox Trail just north of Mount Vernon Road SE along Indian Creek.

The move is coming now because the city needs to reconstruct the trail section, which is currently closed for the reconstruction of a segment a major sanitary sewer line that also runs along the creek.

This week the City Council is approving a contract for $39,900 with Anderson-Bogert Engineers and Surveyors Inc. to design the trail relocation.

The actual construction of the half-mile section of ground rock is expected to be done in early 2013 and to cost about $120,000, Dave Wallace, project engineer for the city's Public Works Department, said on Monday.

Some funds to rebuild the trail in its existing position as part of the sewer project will help defray the costs to move the trail to higher ground, Wallace said.

He said the city had hoped to move more of the flood-prone part of the trail to higher ground, but it would have required taking the trail through private property.

This low-lying section of trail is damaged by flooding about every third year, and moving it higher will keep the trail open and save on frequent repair costs, Wallace said.