The Daily News

The Richland County Highway Department detailed both its flood preparations and its upcoming bridge project at the county commissioners meeting Monday.

The department will start stockpiling sand for sandbags next week in several communities, including Walcott, Christine, Abercrombie, Dwight, Mooreton, Wahpeton, Great Bend, Fairmount, Lidgerwood and Wyndmere.

They are delayed by the fact that the stockpiles are currently frozen. If the sand is delivered too early, with the current temperatures, the sand can "freeze down and freeze solid," rendering it nearly worthless.

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"It's kind of a balancing act," said Tim Schulte, county engineer. "We want to get it there early enough that they can prepare yet if we get it there too early they end up with a frozen block of sand that they can't deal with."

The department is also in the process of building new barricades in Hankinson to get their inventory up to 100 for when they begin closing roads and bridges.

"Last year we used every barricade we had, plus we rented additional signs from 3D in Fargo because we had so many closures," Schulte said, adding, "We're up to about 90 as of last week, so there's only about 10 left to build."

They are also in the process of replenishing their supply of flags and lath.

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) will also be putting in two more real-time river gauges before the flood, one west of Mantador on the Wild Rice River and the other on the Richland Road 3 bridge south west of Kindred, on the Sheyenne River.

"They (the gauges) give you the actual river water elevation and from that surface profile they can give us an estimate on how many cfs are going through the structure," said Schulte.

In addition to all of its flood preparations, the department is also progressing on its annual project, a bridge on the Wild Rice River on Richland Road 4. Last week the department reviewed the plans and specifications for the project with the North Dakota Department of Transportation (NDDOT). Final plans will be sent to the state by March 12.

Their primary concern currently is securing the necessary "right-of ways" (ROWs).

"When we have a project we have to go out and purchase land from the adjacent land owner to accommodate our new design," said Schulte. "Typically, we have 33 to 50 feet on either side of the road centerline and usually on these new designs we have to go out to about 75 feet, so we end up buying that additional 25 feet from the landowners."

All the contacts for the ROWs are willing to accept the offer established by the county board at their Feb. 19 meeting. They are hoping to have all ROWs by the end of this week, as they need to be submitted by March 12. The offer was $2,900 per acre.

The department faces one other concern.

"There's a whole list of environmental impacts we have to medicate and one of those is you can't disturb the nesting barn swallows under a bridge," said Schulte. "It's one of the things we have to put in our plans as an environmental commitment. It won't affect this bridge because our plan is to keep this bridge in service while the new bridge is being built next to it. The bridge won't be taken out before July 15, but they require us to keep it in service while the birds nest."

The project bids in May, and they're looking at a June 15 start date with an October 15 conclusion.

Lastly, the highway department is looking at placing spring load restrictions on Richland roadways next Monday, March 15. Also, there will be a district planning meeting with city and county officials and led by NDDOT on Thursday, March 18 in the Art Room of the Wahpeton Community Center.

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