Newark I-95, 896 interchange to see major changes in traffic project

The I-95 and Route 896 interchange is looking pretty barren these days after swaths of trees were recently cut down.

The trees, from Iron Hill to surrounding retention ponds, have come down as construction workers make way for an estimated $165 million project that will reconfigure the interchange, adding flyovers and a pedestrian/bicyclist pathway that will connect Old Baltimore Pike to Welsh Tract Road.

It's the next major project for New Castle County "with the near completion of the I-95 Restore the Corridor Project," said C.R. McLeod, a Delaware Department of Transportation spokesperson. "From weave areas, to slowing and stopped traffic on 95, especially southbound approaching the interchange, drivers who have navigated through this interchange are aware of the difficulties it presents, especially during peak travel times."

The goal, McLeod said, is to make the area "safer and easier" for travelers.

Restore the Corridor ending:Good news: I-95 'Restore the Corridor' restoration project on schedule to end next year

How will this help traffic?

The project, which is scheduled to run until late 2025, is expected to reduce congestion on I-95 and Route 896 and improve safety in that area that saw approximately one crash every other day between February 2017 and February 2020.

Route 896 crash:South College Avenue near Newark reopened Thursday afternoon after morning crash closed it

"When this interchange was originally built, the area south of Newark on Route 896 was primarily rural, and we’ve seen that change dramatically in the nearly 60 years since this was built," McLeod said. "We need a modern interchange that can not only better manage the flow of traffic through this area, but also reduces the chances of crashes occurring due to slowing and stopped traffic or vehicles needing to cross lanes to reach their through direction of travel."

Presently, motorists exiting south I-95 toward Glasgow must weave their vehicles onto south 896 where other drivers are either continuing south on the state road or merging to the right so they can get on the ramp that will take them to north I-95.

Two flyovers will help reduce the congestion created there.

One flyover will take motorists exiting I-95 south over Route 896, curve above the interstate and then exit them onto south lanes of Route 896 a bit past where the interchange currently is.

The other flyover will take motorists heading south on Route 896 from the Newark area over the interstate, curve left over Route 896 and exit them onto I-95 north.

How will this help pedestrians and bicyclists?

Attached to a portion of this flyover will be a 10-foot-wide pathway for pedestrians and cyclists that will go over the interstate, connecting Welsh Tract Road to Old Baltimore Pike. A concrete barrier will separate the nearly milelong pathway from the roadway.

Neither of these flyovers is expected to cut into Iron Hill Park itself, but there will be some impact on the slope’s northeastern section where a portion of the bridge heading to north I-95 will rest on a hill shelf. DelDOT also said a portion of the slope will need to be cut where the flyover from south I-95 connects to Route 896 south, also known as South College Avenue.

Both flyovers are expected to eliminate the weaving and merging that occurs on this portion of South College Avenue, where a 2016 DelDOT report found an average of more than 1,200 motorists use the ramps during peak morning and afternoon hours.

What else does this project aim to address?

Other improvements the contractor is slated to do include widening both directions of I-95 for new ramp acceleration and deceleration lanes, adding a second lane to the ramp connecting Route 896 north to I-95 north and creating a third through lane for Route 896 south that will go from the interchange, through Old Baltimore Pike and end just before the intersection with Glasgow High School.

"The department is committed to making multimodal improvements wherever we can with our projects and this interchange as it has existed has not provided a safe way to move through this area without a car," McLeod said, pointing to the new pathway for pedestrians and bikers as an example.

How is Delaware paying for it?

Nearly a third — $56.8 million — of the estimated $165 million for the project is coming from the Infrastructure For Rebuilding America grant, which is helping build and repair critical pieces of freight and highway transportation roadways.

Because the main construction contract has not been awarded, the estimated cost of the project could change. DelDOT hopes to award the project before the end of the year.

Contact Esteban Parra at (302) 324-2299, eparra@delawareonline.com or Twitter @eparra3.

Delaware I-95 construction project scheduled to wrap up next year

This should be the last August motorists will experience the massive construction project on the portion of I-95 that cuts through Wilmington.

The nearly $200 million project, dubbed "Restore the Corridor," is on budget and on schedule to wrap up next year, according to Delaware Department of Transportation officials.

"We currently expect major construction to be completed in early 2023 with traffic restored to its original alignment at that time," Charles “C.R.” McLeod, a DelDOT spokesman. "We are planning for a September public meeting to provide an update on the project and activity that will be taking place through the end of the year."

The project began in early 2021, impacting businesses, nearby residents and drivers using the nearly 3 miles of roadway that is being refurbished. Had the repairs not taken place, it would have been more costly later on.

When all is said and done, the project will get what DelDOT engineers have said is needed maintenance to the skeletal structures of the interstate's milelong viaduct that cuts through Wilmington and the numerous bridges that make up the 58-year-old artery. Construction crews will also have repaved the entire segment of highway between the Christina and Brandywine waterways, repair overpasses, replace signs and install new guardrails, among other smaller tasks.

There will also be safety improvements.

"DelDOT is very pleased with the project to date," McLeod said.

The change in traffic patterns, which included closing lanes and exits for months, did come with an increase in collisions. This includes a crash that killed a 25-year-old Wilmington Manor firefighter helping a crash victim.

Background:Wilmington Manor firefighter killed while trying to help driver after crash on I-95

So after a nearly 50% increase in crashes from 2019, transportation officials started an electronic speed monitoring program in the construction zone.

"This pilot Electronic Speed Safety Program (ESSP) has resulted in significant reductions in crashes, and in particular, injury crashes," McLeod said. "In the first 4.5 months following the deployment of the ESSP, 95 total work zone crashes were reported, including 16 crashes resulting in personal injury.

Speed cameras:Why you may now get mailed a ticket for speeding in the Wilmington I-95 construction zone

"During the same timeframe in 2021, 209 total work zone crashes were reported, including 32 crashes resulting in personal injury. The 'after' crash data reflects a 55% reduction in total crashes and a 50% reduction in injury crashes."

In addition, McLeod said since the deployment of the cameras, the average daily speed in the work zone has decreased. Southbound has seen a 12.1% reduction in speed, while northbound has seen an 8.9% reduction to date.

The electronic speed safety devices began operating on Jan. 17, issuing warnings only. But as of April 17, first violations were still issued a warning and subsequent violations were issued citations.

Since the program began, 45,959 warnings have been issued for speeding in the work zone between Jan. 17 and July 28.

"During the citation period which began on April 17, 2022 and is ongoing, 3,682 notices of civil violations have been issued to date for speeding in the work zone," he said. "Currently this area of I-95 has 38,000 average trips daily."

Contact Esteban Parra at (302) 324-2299, eparra@delawareonline.com or Twitter @eparra3.

Gulf Coast Discovery Center, Quinn Street Marina plans on hold

The Navarre Beach Marine Science Center will have to wait a little bit longer to develop its long-awaited Gulf Coast Discovery Center, with Santa Rosa County Commissioners on Monday voting to re-prioritize certain RESTORE funding from the center to instead go toward effluent water treatment plants in Navarre and Milton.

As part of amending its multi-year improvement plan, or MYIP, the board also voted to table plans for improving the Quinn Street marina in order to redirect funds for the treatment plants.

The move came after lengthy presentations from Charlene Mauro, the Navarre Beach Marine Science Center's director, and a representative for Caldwell Architects, which won the bid to design the center's master plan and programming.

The presentations for the new Gulf Coast Discovery Center included designs for new animal exhibits, visitor center, parking, classrooms, an outdoor amphitheater, salt marsh, teaching stations, pavilions, boardwalks, observation decks and more.

But the final design would cost $10.5 million, or nearly $8 million more than center leaders originally estimated the project would cost in 2016, when it first received a RESTORE grant for $265,000. The center has already spent $100,000 of that grant for the planning of the new facility.

The center went before commissioners Monday to increase its RESTORE funding request to $7 million, saying it could get the additional $3.5 million for exhibits through fundraising efforts. But commissioners weren't comfortable increasing the amount, saying there were other projects in the county that were more critical than the science center.

"I love the discovery center and I want to see something happen there, but when I put it next to water quality and infrastructure, those are where my priorities sit," District 4 Commissioner Dave Piech said at the meeting.

The other commissioners agreed, eventually directing county staff to amend the MYIP to begin the process of re-allocating RESTORE funding from the discovery center and the Quinn Street marina to the water treatment plants. The amended MYIP calls for around $5 million for the Navarre wastewater treatment plant and about $2 million for the water treatment plant in Milton.

Milton City Manager Randy Jorgensen attended the meeting and vouched for redirecting the funding from the marina to the wastewater treatment plant, saying the plant was a bigger priority for the city than the marina.

Using RESTORE money to fund part of the wastewater treatment facilities — which each have an estimated cost of $30 million — heightens the county's chance of getting state match funding for the wastewater projects.

Piech said he wanted to continue exploring ways to fund the discovery center, and it isn't out of the running for RESTORE funding in the future.

"The highest priority to me is to get the treated effluent out of the Santa Rosa Sound," Piech said. "Education is very important to me, my wife is a teacher. But when you have limited funds, you have to start looking at those priorities. I still want to work with the discovery center, but I look at things holistically."

Annie Blanks can be reached at ablanks@pnj.com or 850-435-8632.

Bergen County still waiting for light rail first promised a decade ago

The light rail extension proposed for Bergen County more than a decade ago is still stuck in the gate, and some local officials say they are losing patience.

Last year, Sen. Loretta Weinberg said NJ Transit had not received approval from the federal government to go ahead with the long-sought 10-mile extension of the Hudson-Bergen Light Rail, and that the Federal Transit Administration had changed the cost-sharing formula, putting more of a burden on New Jersey.

And now Nathan Rudy, a senior public information officer for the agency, said there are “no updates on the Hudson-Bergen Light Rail Northern Branch Corridor Project,” adding that the agency is still “committed to this project” and continues to work with the Federal Transit Administration on its review of the project’s environmental impact statement.

What does that mean for residents and towns in Bergen County? More waiting.

In Palisades Park, Borough Administrator David Lorenzo said he has been talking with NJ Transit officials about the light rail plans for years, but nothing has come of his efforts.

“As recently as three years ago, they came here and had meetings and looked at projected spots for the stop, but none of it has come to fruition,” he said. “For as many years as I’ve been in this position, I have heard about the light rail system. Through all administrations past and present we’ve been told that it’s coming in the very near future, for 10 years now.”

Lorenzo noted that “New York is and will continue to be our next-door neighbor,” and as a result, population and traffic will continue to grow.

Mass transit boost:PATH, AirTrain construction plans moved forward by Port Authority

American Dream:American Dream had more workers than visitors after its grand opening weekend

The proposed light rail extension would add stations in Ridgefield, Palisades Park, Leonia and Englewood, carrying thousands of passengers a day. It would connect to a line that now runs from North Bergen through Weehawken, Hoboken and Jersey City, and south to Bayonne.

Its cost has been estimated at $2 billion, and New Jersey might have to foot as much as half of that.

Englewood Mayor Michael Wildes hopes that NJ Transit and government officials can “step it up,” because the long delays have been difficult and the project is a “perfect solution” to help restore the city’s business district.

“It’s disheartening that all of our tax dollars do not allow for new technology and time to make travel to and from Manhattan more readily available and easy for residents,” Wildes said. “This would also benefit Englewood, because it would assist in getting car traffic off pedestrian streets.”

Lorenzo called the light rail “one of the last resources to help taxpayers and commuters in this area” and noted that Palisades Park has already identified a site for its stop, and would be “willing to work in cooperation with them to put in a facility and parking.”

“It has just been a continuance of business as usual with overflowing traffic and inadequate transit programs,” he said. “We already know that NJ Transit’s existing means is not adequate to handle the needs of the area.”

In addition to easing traffic problems, Wildes said, the light rail would benefit Englewood in other ways.

“This would be part of the new experience that our downtown needs, because it could help bring new energy to vacant storefronts,” he said. “People would be able to walk and shop door to door. Something like this is a game-changer.”

Construction of a light rail line in Jersey City started in 1996, and the first segment opened in 2000 through Hudson River waterfront communities. In 2009, Gov. Jon Corzine promised to break ground on a Bergen extension by the end of 2011.

The long-gestating plan would bring the light rail from its current terminus at Tonnelle Avenue in North Bergen, 2 miles short of the Bergen County line, up to Englewood Health, the hospital.

NJ Transit projects more than 12,000 daily riders on the extension, which would operate from 5 a.m. to 1 a.m. CSX would continue to operate freight trains on the line overnight.

Katie Sobko is a local reporter for NorthJersey.com. For unlimited access to the most important news from your local community, please subscribe or activate your digital account today.

Email: sobko@northjersey.com Twitter: @katesobko

Plans for Riverwalk near Hester Park to be finalized in coming months

ST. CLOUD — A new way to embrace the Mississippi River just north of downtown St. Cloud could be open to the public within the next two years.

The city of St. Cloud is wrapping its vision for a Riverwalk into scheduled improvements at the city's drinking water treatment plant along Fifth Avenue North.

The public is invited to attend an open house from 5-7 p.m. Wednesday at Whitney Senior Center to give opinions on possible Riverwalk features.

The proposed Riverwalk site has changed since it was first proposed in 2015. Preliminary drawings showed an interactive river channel and swimming area, amphitheater space, a canoe launch and event buildings on the site of Cathedral High School's Rau Field.

The updated plans instead feature amenities near Hester Park — including the transformation of the green space on top of the water treatment plant, which is tucked under the turf.

Residents at the open house will be asked about their preferences for the space. That could include music or performance space, benches, flexible lawn space, an athletic field, space for family and community events, and space for picnics, among other things. Landscaping could include a shelter or pergola, a wildlife habitat, a sculpture garden or other gardens.

Matt Glaesman, community development director, said he expects the council to approve final plans and bids for the project in the coming months.

The overall plan also includes the relocation of two lift stations along Fifth Avenue North near Cathedral High School. That project is estimated to cost $1.4 million and is funded by sewer utility revenues.

The water treatment facility improvements are expected to cost $25 million, funded by a state revolving fund. Planned improvements include advanced treatment and disinfection systems.

Tracy Hodel, public services director, said the improvements are primarily related to water quality compliance. Construction is anticipated to begin in the summer and be completed by 2022.

The Riverwalk, which will connect the downtown Beaver Island Trail extension to Hester Park, is estimated to cost $5 million. It will be funded by $2 million in local-option sales tax revenues, $1 million from a grant and $2 million in private donations.

The Riverwalk project is a partnership between Mississippi Partners, Rotary Club of St. Cloud and the city of St. Cloud, among others.

"These are the three things coming together that are creating the corridor improvements," Glaesman said of the projects.

The Riverwalk project also provides an opportunity to restore the eroding shoreline of the Mississippi River — and fits with Mayor Dave Kleis' priority to spotlight the mighty river that runs straight through the heart of the city.

Those efforts spurred the Beaver Island Trail bridge, a sloping bridge snuggled up against the downtown riverbank that connects the trail from River's Edge Convention Center to Fifth Avenue North. The bridge, which cost about $8.44 million, opened in October 2016.

The city's comprehensive plan also shows proposals for new riverfront restaurants and hotels along the east side of the Mississippi River.

The city and region has worked to embrace the river as an asset in recent years, with a 2009 regional plan earning St. Cloud the River Friendly City of the Year Award from Minnesota Waters.

"That established a regional vision for how we embrace the river and be good stewards while also using the river for redevelopment purposes," Glaesman told the Times in 2017. "We've certainly made a concerted effort to re-engage the river."

Amtrak Gulf Coast service back on track

Buried in the $1.3 trillion omnibus bill that kept the government open through September and was signed by President Donald Trump last week is a bit of hope for those wanting to see passenger rail service return to the Gulf Coast — including to Tallahassee.

The law contains $20 million for a grant program aimed at initiating, restoring or enhancing passenger rail service, according to Bryan Gulley, a Senate Commerce Committee spokesman for Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla.

"The program, which Florida Sen. Bill Nelson helped establish in 2015, is competitive but it was created with the Gulf Coast service in mind," Gulley said in an email to the News Journal. "For example, the grant program gives priority to restoring service on routes formerly operated by Amtrak. So, if the Gulf Coast line gets approval, the grant money could be used to help restore the line."

The bill also includes $592 million for the Consolidated Rail Infrastructure and Safety Improvements grant program, which contains $35.5 million to restore lost passenger service, according to the Southern Rail Commission.

More:Our opinion: Don't expect Amtrak back anytime soon

Cost to restore Amtrak to Gulf could limit future

Gulley said Sen. Nelson remains hopeful that progress will continue to be made on the project to restore passenger service to the Florida Gulf Coast.

Tallahassee City Commissioner Nancy Miller said news of the funding was a “Christmas gift” considering the long process involving several layers of government to get to this point. And she said the service won’t be resurrected overnight and the community can anticipate several years, if not longer, before the first ride takes off.

“The bottom line is it’s in the budget and where do we go from here,” Miller said. “I’m hoping in the next couple of months we’ll find out the next steps.”

The funding comes as a turn around from when Trump considered cutting the service.

"We have come a long way from having Amtrak passenger service completely cut from the President's budget to $20 million toward Gulf Coast passenger rail restoration and $250 million for essential safety enhancements," said City Commissioner Scott Maddox. "With this level of commitment, we are much closer to passenger rail serving our city."

Gulf Coast Rail Service Working Group, a partnership between the Federal Railroad Administration, Southern Rail Commission and 28 cities, regional planning councils and state departments of transportation including Florida, released a report to Congress in July urging the implantation of daily round-trip Amtrak service between New Orleans and Orlando.

The working group estimated the cost to restore the service at approximately $115 million, but CSX disputed that amount, saying it would instead cost $2 billion. The working group said it could not validate CSX's estimate without knowing the methodology behind the estimate.

CSX told the Pensacola News Journal in an email that the company is selling two rail lines in the Panhandle, one from Jacksonville to Chattahoochee and the other from Chattahoochee to Pensacola.

"The decision to sell these lines was based on an ongoing evaluation of CSX’s network, operations and assets to ensure they’re delivering value that meets the company’s long-term business needs," the CSX email said. "...Throughout this process, CSX is communicating with customers, union representatives and employees impacted by the potential sales, and we’re committed to working closely with regulatory agencies reviewing and approving the transactions."

Knox Ross, vice chairman of the Southern Rail Commission, said the sale could help the effort to restore passenger service to Florida.

"(State and federal regulators) could make the passenger train a condition of sale," Ross said. "That they have to maintain the line to at least current standard, and that they have to allow the (passenger) train."

Ross said the Southern Rail Commission is trying to get twice-daily rail service between New Orleans and Mobile, Alabama, that he said will help the effort to restore passenger service to the rest of the Gulf Coast.

"We've got a short-term opportunity to get something done," Ross said.

Restoration of the full New Orleans to Orlando route will be more difficult, with federal regulations requiring new safety technology known as positive train control to be installed along passenger service route.

Ross said most of the line from Pensacola to Orlando doesn't have positive train control.

Nelson's office said they secured funding for a $250 million program to award grants to install new positive control systems, which could be used for the restoration of the route.

Ross said the effort to revive the route began with people calling their elected leaders and asking for it to come back, and he said if people still want to see it come back, they should keep calling their leaders.

"If people think it's important, then they should let their elected representatives know it," Ross said.

Jim Little can be reached at jwlittle@pnj.com and 850-208-9827. Tallahassee Democrat reporter TaMaryn Waters contributed to this report.

Rail line purchased for Ecusta Trail; Campaign launched to fund ...

The long-awaited Ecusta Trail is one step closer to officially becoming a rail trail.

On Aug. 12, a subsidiary of Conserving Carolina completed the purchase of the 19.1-mile unused rail line to create the Ecusta Trail. With the purchase of the land complete, Friends of the Ecusta Trail and Conserving Carolina are now focused on raising funds for construction, according to a news release from Conserving Carolina.

EcustaRails2Trail, LLC, a subsidiary of Conserving Carolina, purchased the corridor from Blue Ridge Southern Railroad, LLC, which is a division of WATCO Companies, for $7.8 million. The trail still has to be constructed and the corridor is not open to the public.

The purchase was made possible by a major grant from N.C. Department of Transportation, as well as significant funding from the Tourism Development Authorities of Henderson and Transylvania counties and a grant from the Community Foundation for Western North Carolina, according to the release.

The corridor has been “railbanked,” meaning that it can be used for a recreational trail until such a time that the line is needed again for rail transportation.

Henderson County and the City of Brevard will manage construction for the trail, and have already begun seeking grants.

Construction of the Ecusta Trail is estimated to cost $31.1 million. The vast majority of this funding is expected to come from federal Department of Transportation grants, as well as other grant sources, according to Conserving Carolina.

However, an estimated $6.5 million local match is required to leverage this grant funding. Conserving Carolina and Friends of the Ecusta Trail have launched a capital campaign to raise the match from local businesses and individuals.

“The Ecusta Trail has the potential to pay for itself many times over. The case for support for the capital campaign cites findings that every $1 spent on conservation, including parkland, results in $4 of economic value,” the release says. “Additionally, every $1 spent on greenways results in $3 in health care savings every year. Greenways also improve local quality of life, support a healthy environment, connect people with the places they want to go, and provide safe routes for alternative transportation.”

How to donate

Donations toward the construction of the trail may take the form of cash; pledges over a three- to five-year period; donations of securities, tangible personal property; real estate; and bequests and other types of planned gifts, according to Conserving Carolina. More information is available at conservingcarolina.org/ecusta.

Friends of The Ecusta Trail was founded in 2009 as a volunteer organization to study, educate and advocate for the acquisition and development of the proposed Ecusta Trail. Their efforts over the past 12 years have included garnering endorsements for the trail from local governments in addition to nearly 50 other non-profits and organizations throughout Western North Carolina.

Conserving Carolina is a local land trust that has protected over 46,000 acres, primarily in Henderson, Polk, Transylvania and Rutherford counties and the Landrum, South Carolina area. The mission of Conserving Carolina is to protect, restore and inspire appreciation of the natural world.

Officials react to purchase

Conserving Carolina provided remarks from local leaders behind the project.

Hunter Marks, president of the Friends of the Ecusta Trail, says, “Our board, and many other community members, have invested countless hours over the last 10+ years to explore and encourage the idea of the Ecusta Trail. We’re excited to see it become a reality. We believe it will become a signature feature for our area, and be an economic catalyst for our communities.”

Rebekah Robinson, an assistant director at Conserving Carolina who led efforts to purchase the corridor, says, “We are thrilled to have reached this important milestone in the creation of the Ecusta Trail and look forward to the many economic, health, and environmental benefits the trail will bring to our communities once it is constructed.”

Bill Lapsley, Chairman of the Henderson County Board of Commissioners, says, “Trails and greenways are no longer viewed as just community amenities; they are essential infrastructure for quality of life, for economic development in our community, and for creating a tourism destination. The Henderson County Board of Commissioners was proud to take a lead step in ensuring the purchase of this corridor.”

Jim Fatland, Brevard’s City Manager, says, “Connecting Transylvania and Henderson counties with the 19-mile Ecusta Trail, a pipe dream for many years, now has traction on moving forward as a viable project. We are excited to see Conserving Carolina and City of Brevard as community partners in creating a tremendous recreational opportunity for our citizens.”

“On behalf of everyone here at the Blue Ridge Southern Railroad and WATCO, we think this is such a great outcome for this unused asset,” said Laura McNichol, WATCO Senior Vice President, Government & Industry Relations. “We know and understand how important and beneficial these trails can be to communities with the added benefit of preserving the corridor for future rail use should that ever be needed. We truly appreciated working alongside the good folks at Henderson County and Conserving Carolina, as well as Friends of the Ecusta Trail.”

Chuck McGrady, former N.C. House Member and current NCDOT board member, says “The Ecusta Trail is more than a recreational amenity for local residents. It will contribute to the economy in our community in much the same way as similar trails like the Virginia Creeper or Swamp Rabbit Trail.”

To learn more about Conserving Carolina, visit conservingcarolina.org. For more information on the Friends of the Ecusta Trail, go to www.ecustatrail.org.

Tallahassee storm damage underscores need for utility improvements

Jeffrey Schweers

Democrat staff writer

Sunday’s heavy storms left behind a mini-Hermine scale of destruction and served as a reminder of the Tallahassee electrical grid's vulnerability to high winds and fallen limbs.

The storms also gave officials a chance to see if any of the improvements they made to communicating with customers helped.

Spawned by a massive tornado system that swept through the Southern U.S., the storms took three of the city’s 25 substations completely out of service and left 30,000 customers without power, Deputy City Manager Reese Goad said.

The substations were all on the east side: Substation 21 on Miccosukee Road, Substation 17 off of Mahan Road east of Interstate 10, and Substation 14 off Centerville Road north of Capital Circle NE.

“That’s where we saw the bulk of the damage,” Goad said.

Up to 70 mph winds knocked down trees and power lines, leaving 30,000 of the utility’s 118,000 customers without power. Power was restored to 23,000 by Monday morning, with 98 percent recovery expected by midnight Monday. The rest are expected to be completed overnight and into Tuesday, if necessary, Goad said.

The storms drew immediate comparisons to Hurricane Hermine, which blew through Tallahassee on Sept 1 with 55-64 mph winds, knocking eight substations offline and causing power outages to 100,000 homes and businesses. It took a week to restore power to 90 percent of the customers.

As with Hermine, the damage to the electrical grid Sunday was tree-related. “Trees enter the wires running from the substations and ultimately trip the stations offline until repairs can be made in each of those lines,” Goad said.

And once again, the parts of the city hit hardest were around the medical corridor, midtown and Indian Head Acres.

The impact was shorter in duration but just as intense, Goad said.

For example, the storms revisited the area around Miccosukee and Fleischmann roads with heavy damage to power lines and poles. “We rebuilt all of that after Hermine and it was destroyed again,” Goad said. “They are rebuilding it from the ground up.”

After Hurricane Hermine city and county officials discussed plans to improve communications with the public and coordinate with state officials post-storm.

The city kept customers updated via text message and email of progress getting power restored, and used Facebook and Twitter to let people know where line crews were working.

The city executed mutual aid agreements with four municipal utilities and coordinated debris cleanup with the state.

“The mayor and governor had a good conversation enlisting the state in road clearing," said Commissioner Gil Ziffer, who was among those commissioners updating the public on Facebook.

Another recommendation was to upgrade the outage map in order to keep up with the demand. It was disabled Sunday.

The Sunday storms also underscored the need to implement three other recommendations made to the city commission at a recent workshop — creating an urban forest master plan, expanding a tree-trimming pilot program, and putting strategic power lines underground.

“We adopted a more aggressive tree-trimming program,” Ziffer said.

The commission has also asked staff to come back with an idea of how much it would cost to bury power lines underground in strategic areas.

“Trees are a big reason people live here, but when they’re in an area where they are continually causing problems we need to be looking at going underground where it’s feasible,” Ziffer said.

Putting lines underground can relieve some of that initial impact to get critical services up and running again, Goad said. But it also would be expensive. Burying electrical lines in the five-mile medical corridor would cost an estimated $10 million, according to Goad.

The City Commission has already approved a project to build a backup generator at Substation 12, which supplies power to both the Tallahassee Police Department and Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare.

“Construction could begin this summer and take a year to complete,” Goad said. “It will serve the hospital and the surrounding area.”

Contact Schweers at jschweers@tallahassee.com. Follow him on Twitter @jeffschweers.

Recovering after rivers rage

Kevin Duggan

kevinduggan@coloradoan.com

It's been a rough year for Rough'n It Wright.

The floor of the small, brown cabin named for the families that owned it for decades has sagged down and been left exposed since the Big Thompson River tore away the ground supporting it last September.

Some of the cabin's contents slid out through the gap and were swept away. Other furnishings are still there: A washer and dryer hang on by power cords and a hot air ventilation pipe; mattresses cling to beds tilted toward the river.

The cabin looks like a shoebox, with the bottom peeled back from one corner. A beige carpet covers much of the slatted wooden floor, the edge of which rests on jagged white and gray boulders.

Perched under a towering canyon wall halfway between Drake and Estes Park along U.S. Highway 34, the cabin has become an icon of the 2013 flood and the challenges residents and government officials face a year later.

While progress has been made toward recovering from the devastating deluge, years of planning and construction work remain. Natural and bureaucratic barriers must be hurdled by agencies attempting to rebuild roads and bridges and families trying to rebuild lives.

The owner of Rough'n It Wright, Lynda Wright of Cypress, California, has not been to the cabin since the flood.

Members of her extended family were in the cabin and the cottage next door — Linger Longer — during the flood and were rescued by the local volunteer fire department.

Wright has only seen pictures of the devastation. But what she's seen has made her determined to rebuild Linger Longer.

"When I look at the pictures, I don't see what remains," she said. "I see what it was before.

"I can visualize every single person I have known and loved who has been at that cabin over the years. And I am not going to give up on it."

The September 2013 flood ranks among the worst natural disasters in Colorado history. A storm system stalled over the Front Range beginning Sept. 9, dumping the equivalent of a year's worth of precipitation for some areas over five days.

Mountain rivers and streams rose to unprecedented levels. The fast-moving water tore out small dirt roads and major highways before spilling out onto the plains and inundating parts of Loveland, Greeley and Boulder. While Fort Collins saw relatively little damage, for a time, access in and out of the city was cut off by closures of flooded roads.

Nine deaths were attributed to the flooding, including two in Larimer County. An estimated 2,000 homes were damaged or destroyed statewide, with damage to public and private property estimated at more than $2 billion.

Caught in limbo

Rough'n It Wright was scheduled to be demolished by Larimer County in the spring. The building was so badly damaged by the flood, officials deemed it beyond repair and a potential hazard.

If it were to collapse into the river, the debris could damage facilities downstream. Wright gave the county permission to bring it down.

The only direct access to the property from the highway was a footbridge destroyed by the flood. Rebuilding the bridge was a low priority for county officials given the number of other bridges across the Big Thompson that needed to be replaced.

In May, a county-hired contractor brought in equipment to scrape the cabin from the riverbank and retrieve the pieces from the water. But by the time the operation was ready to go, the river had risen with the release of spring runoff from Olympus Dam and Lake Estes upstream. It was running too high and fast to safely do the job.

The project missed its window of opportunity by one day, said Eric Fried, the Larimer County building official. The footbridge might be replaced in October, Fried said, but it likely wouldn't handle the weight of excavation equipment.

"Until we know more, we're still in limbo," he said. "We know we need to get that taken care of, but we're not sure how or when we are going to do it."

Summer retreat

Rough'n It Wright was built in 1955. It replaced a cabin called Ever More, Wright said.

Linger Longer was built in 1912 by Dr. Samuel Wright, a Loveland physician and great-grandfather of Wright's last husband, Richard. The property and cabins in Big Thompson Canyon served as summer retreat for the family for many years, with ownership passed along to succeeding generations.

At times, other families owned the portion of the 39-acre property where Rough'n It Wright and a one-room bunkhouse called Our House stand. But full ownership came back to the Wright family in 1988.

The cabin, which was heavily damaged in the 1976 Big Thompson Canyon Flood, was restored after many years of neglect and named Rough'n It Wright. The "Rough" refers to the family of Wright's sister-in-law, Jeri Rueff.

Both families live in Southern California and visited the property during summers. After the trauma of last year's flood, the Rueffs signed over their interest in the property to Wright.

Lynda Wright has been a regular visitor to the property since 1968. She was there the night of the 1976 flood, and still remembers the dreadful rumbling of the river and the shuddering of the ground. She and her family had to be rescued by helicopter.

And yet she loves the rugged property, the canyon and the happy memories they hold.

Rough'n It Wright might be doomed, but Linger Longer can be refurbished, she said. Our House was not damaged in either flood.

Wright said it's heartbreaking to see what has become of her beloved, peaceful retreat on the banks of the Big Thompson. Passersby on the highway stop to gawk at the damage and take photos.

"I'm not going to let it stand as some kind of eyesore," she said. "I want my neighbors to know I have every intention of going in there and cleaning it up ... But I have no way to get there."

Much work still needs to be done in flood-ravaged areas across Larimer County and the state. Torn-up roads and highways that were temporarily repaired during a flurry of activity last fall need permanent repairs, said Johnny Olson, regional director for the Colorado Department of Transportation, or CDOT.

Design work for permanent repairs to state highways along the Front Range is underway, with construction likely to be spread out over years. The goal is to build the highways "better than they were" and more capable of handling another flood, he said.

"We have 26 projects we are going to be working on over the next three years," Olson said. "And local agencies have 83 projects they are going to be working on over the next five years."

The biggest and most expensive task is reconstruction of U.S. 34 through Big Thompson Canyon. Long stretches of the highway were destroyed by the flooding, often in the same locations where it was damaged during a flash flood in 1976 that claimed 144 lives.

CDOT is working with federal transportation officials to come up with a design for the road that would prevent it from getting blown out by another flood.

"We have to look at the river and the roadway as a system," he said.

Check the boxes in the key next to before/after photos or Civil Air Patrol photos to get a closer look at the damage. Mobile users, visit http://noconow.co/floodanniversary to view this feature. Map created by CDOT.

Designing permanent repairs to U.S. Highway 36 between Lyons and Estes Park in the wake of the flood provided insight into how to build river-corridor highways to be more resilient.

The highway was moved away from the river where possible to give the river "room to move" during a high-water event, Olson said. Parts of the road were built on top of bedrock to provide stability.

"The other option was to build a wall up and down it," he said. "But that doesn't serve Colorado, and that's not what Colorado is all about."

U.S. 34 reopened at the end of November after crews worked around the clock on emergency repairs. In places, the road was built 6 to 10 feet lower than it was but with the intention of getting it through the spring runoff, Olson said.

Emergency repairs cost about $30 million, according to CDOT. Permanent repairs are expected to cost about $50 million.

Construction is expected to begin in September 2015 and run through 2017. Olson said CDOT will work with communities along the river and advocacy groups in shaping the final design.

Fighting back

Recovery work in hard-hit areas such as Estes Park, Drake, Glen Haven and Loveland began last fall before floodwaters receded. But the work is far from over.

In Glen Haven, residents and volunteers are going through the laborious process of repairing private roads that were ripped up by normally placid Fox and West creeks and the North Fork of the Big Thompson.

In places, the creeks took over the roads and scoured them down to the bedrock, leaving "canyons" 12 feet deep. Culverts and bridges were gone. Hundreds of downed trees clogged the streambeds, and many houses were inaccessible.

"Our community was gone ..." said Tony Fink, president of the Glen Haven Area Volunteer Fire Department. "We were pretty much devastated by just looking at the devastation here."

Because the area's roads are private, for the most part, they were not eligible for governmental repair funds. Residents were left to find their own solutions, Fink said. Help came through from nearby towns, local community foundations, faith-based organizations, and the residents themselves through donations of materials, equipment, money and labor.

Estes Park donated material dredged from Lake Estes to fill in Glen Haven's road. The city of Loveland trucked in 1,700 loads of dirt and rock from the site of its destroyed Idylwilde Dam as road fill.

The work went on all winter, spring and summer. Fink estimated that about 90 percent of the flood debris has been cleared and 75 percent of the roadways restored.

The next step is to find $350,000 to hire a contractor to professionally apply and shape road base on top of the fill dirt. About 10 properties remain inaccessible, Fink said, and parts of the area need to be revegetated.

But otherwise, Glen Haven is in good shape thanks to the hard work of many people, he said.

"We feel like what we have been able to accomplish as a community has given the remainder of the community a lot of hope," he said.

Sadness still pervades parts of Big Thompson Canyon that saw heavy damage. At Cedar Cove, which is east of Drake, an open, rocky expanse marks an area that once held a small neighborhood. Only a few houses remain.

Two Cedar Cove residents — 60-year-old Patty Goodwine and 79-year-old Evelyn M. Starner — were killed when floodwaters surged through the area.

A little way downstream, ribbons mark the trees where rescuers found Mike and Florence Horn trapped and desperately hanging on as the river raged below. The Horns were with Goodwine when her home broke apart.

Neighbor Barb Anderson, who also survived the 1976 flood, said many area residents are struggling to put their lives back together.

"I worry about them, all of them," she said. "I'm thankful that we were spared, but yet on the other hand, my heart goes out to them, too."

Much of the debris and silt that covered the area after the flood has been cleared. But full recovery will be "a long time coming," Anderson said.

Uncertainty still plagues many areas hit by the flood, especially when it comes to finding financial help to restore private roads and residences, said Lori Hodges, director of emergency management and recovery for Larimer County.

Dealing with insurance companies and the rules of the Federal Emergency Management Agency can be daunting.

Colorado has received $262 million in disaster recovery funds from the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development through its Community Development Block Grants program.

Larimer County recently received $5.5 million in HUD funding to assist flood victims in rehabilitating their homes or find new housing. The program is being administered through the Loveland Housing Authority.

Whether HUD funds may be used to help rebuild private roads remains to be seen. A waiver of program rules is needed.

The slow pace of recovery is frustrating, Hodges said. Resolving some problems, such as removing Rough'n It Wright from the riverbank, takes a lot of time.

"I don't think people understand how complicated some of these issues can get," she said.

Forecasters saw it coming — a large, wet mass of air making its way to Colorado.

But on Sept. 9, a Monday, it was hard to believe the big storm would bring anything but cool drizzle to Colorado. By Wednesday, the air mass was rapidly becoming a statewide deluge that within hours would sweep away roads, people and homes along the Front Range. What had started as a meteorological oddity had become something deadly, something historic.

The wet air mass that hit Colorado looked like an average summer monsoon, a rapidly moving system of wet air that triggers well-known short downpours in the state.

"But this was better than average," said Nolan Doesken, a state climatologist, in 2013. "This was a particularly concentrated moist air mass, and the kind you associate with the remnants of a tropical storm. (But), I don't recall this being the remnants of a tropical storm."

In a matter of days, the storm dumped a year's worth of rain in parts of Colorado. The rain fell onto burn scars, into dams and rivers; and unlike a wildfire, it could not be mitigated or stopped, only endured.

As rivers raged, a river flow gauge was washed out along the Big Thompson River in Loveland, and the damage stacked up in Larimer County and across the state.

By the numbers: Flood damage in Larimer County

47 – Houses destroyed

7– Commercial buildings destroyed

338 – Homes sustained significant damage

25 – Businesses sustained significant damage

13 – Buildings ordered demolished

198 – Structures deemed substantially damaged

80 – Structures in floodplains that will have to be removed, relocated or elevated

$79 million – Estimated damage to county facilities, primarily roads and bridges

$67 million – Potential reimbursement through state and federal sources

$17.3 million – Expenditures to date

This map depicts the locations of flood-damaged homes in Larimer County. Mobile users, visit http://noconow.co/floodanniversary to view this feature.

By the numbers: Flood damage in Loveland

$25 million – Total estimated damage to city facilities

$11.5 million – Damage to water, sewer and electrical utilities

$6.5 million – Damage to parks, open spaces and golf courses

$5.5 million – Damage to roads and bridges

$22 million – Expected reimbursement through insurance and federal funds

By the numbers: Colorado Department of Transportation

118 miles – Damaged miles of state highways along the Front Range

$450 million – Authorized funding to make temporary and permanent repairs to flood-damaged roads and bridges from the Federal Highway Administration

$50 million – Estimated cost of permanent repairs to U.S. Highway 34 after $30 million was spent on emergency repairs

$7.1 million – Estimated cost of permanent repairs to U.S. Highway 36 after $20 million was spent on emergency repairs

$10 million to $20 million – Estimated cost of permanent repairs to Colorado Highway 7; emergency repairs cost $17 million

$1 million to $4 million – Estimated cost of permanent repairs to Colorado Highway 119; emergency repairs cost $1.5 million

By the numbers: Road work ahead

County Road 43 (Devil's Gulch: Drake to Estes Park): Construction is expected to begin this fall and take about a year. Cost: $40 million

Big Thompson Canyon: Bridge replacements in 2015 and 2016. Cost: $4 million

County Road 27 (Lower Buckhorn): Reconstruction underway with completion expected in 2015. Cost: $18 million

County Road 44H (Upper Buckhorn): Construction in 2015. Cost: $4 million

Pinewood Springs (multiple projects): Repairs are expected to be finished this year or early 2015. Cost: $1.5 million

County Road 47 (Big Elk Meadows): Reconstruction in 2015. Cost: $3 million

County Road 63 (Fish Creek Road, Estes Park): Some utility work underway; road construction is expected in 2015. Cost: $15 million

Coloradoan environment reporter Ryan Maye Handy contributed to this report.

The September 2013 flood effectively cut off Estes Park from the Front Range with the closures of heavily damaged U.S. highways 34 and 36.

Colorado Highway 7 — the scenic Peak to Peak Highway — was closed for days, leaving the only route into town over Trail Ridge Road through Rocky Mountain National Park.

Fish Creek Road and the utilities buried beneath it were destroyed, leaving hundreds of homes without water and sewer service for weeks. Downtown businesses also were hammered by floodwaters, forcing the temporary closure of many shops and restaurants along Elkhorn Avenue.

Everything inside Poppy's Pizza and Grill had to be replaced from "four feet down" because of water damage, said owner Rob Pieper.

The restaurant was closed for three months. Its sister business next door — Mama Rose's — was closed for one month.

Both restaurants bounced back this summer thanks to a lively tourist season, as have other businesses in town, Pieper said. But full recovery remains elusive.

"Personally, and I think as a community, we took quite a financial hit after the flood last year …" he said. "Even though business is back and we're all back doing what we do, we still have a lot of ground to make up."

The support from loyal customers was heart-warming, he said. Some took long driving trips from Fort Collins, the Denver area and Cheyenne, Wyoming, to patronize restaurants when they reopened.

Northwest of Estes Park along Larimer County Road 43, community support and volunteer work crews made a big difference in helping the Glen Haven General Store rebuild and recover.

The store's historic building was heavily damaged as flood water pushed the hamlet's "town hall" and tons of debris against its west side. Its lower level was demolished and filled with mud.

The rebuilt store opened in June. Business was brisk all summer, said co-owner Becky Childs, up about 10 percent from 2013, which was a good year until the flood hit.

The recovery process has been tiring and hard for the community, even with much-appreciated volunteers helping out, she said.

"I think everyone's ready to wind down after a year of hard work — seven days a week for the work crews," she said.

An inspection of the building found the extent of its damage fell within limits set by the Federal Emergency Management Agency. It could be rebuilt while other businesses along County Road 43 through the heart of Glen Haven wiped out by the flood could not.

What property owners may do with land that's in the floodplain of West Creek remains to be seen, said Terry Gilbert, director of community development for Larimer County.

A planning effort facilitated by a Colorado State University professor is expected to help shape a vision for the commercial area, Gilbert said. But any rebuilding would be dictated by county and federal regulations.

"One of problems is that we're not sure where the maps are going to say the floodplain is at this point," he said.

COTA to spend $10.5 million for work on West Broad bus rapid transit

The Central Ohio Transit Authority will be spending another $10.5 million on engineering work toward a bus rapid transit line along nine miles of West Broad Street west of Downtown.

The COTA board of trustees on Wednesday approved the contract with AECOM, a Dallas-based company with Columbus offices, for this next phase of the work. A third phase will be done next year.

Construction on the rapid transit line is expected to perhaps finally begin as early as 2025, said Andrew Biesterveld, COTA's chief engineer and mechanical officer.

"We're near 30% design done, Biesterveld told The Dispatch.

The new work will include more surveying, property appraisal and acquisition assistance for right-of-way, and public engagement.

The bus rapid-transit line would be the first as part of the LinkUS initiative to build lines in several corridors in Franklin County, including along East Main Street east of Downtown, and a Northwest Corridor route along Olentangy River Road and ultimately to Dublin.

Bus rapid transit systems uses buses that are longer than traditional buses, with its own dedicated lanes so they are able to movw faster through traffic. Cities such as Cleveland and Minneapolis have created such lines, in part because they are less expensive to build and maintain than rail.

A 2022 Ohio State University study showed that bus rapid transit lines helped improve values of nearby multi-family properties, including Cleveland.

Biesterveld said the East Main rapid transit portion could begin seven months after work begins on the West Broad stretch.

At question, though, remains funding. In the summer of 2022, COTA officials decided not to place a 0.5% sales tax hike on the November 2022 ballot to raise $6 billion for bus rapid transit because of what one called "economic challenges" in the region. There are no plans yet to put it on a ballot.

COTA began applying for $300 million in grants in 2022 from the U.S. Department of Transportation to help fund both the West Broad and East Main proposed corridors.

At that time, according to Kim Sharp, COTA's senior director of development, the projected build out for each in 2022 dollars was $251 million for West Broad Street and $265 million for East Main Street. Now, the cost, in projected 2027 dollars, is estimated to be $334 million for West Broad Street and $329 million for East Main Street, according to COTA spokesman Jeff Pullin.

The Mid-Ohio Regional Planning Commission is currently seeking public comment through Feb. 8 on 23 proposed projects in central Ohio that it proposes to direct $148 million in federal funds toward, including $13.1 million for construction of the West Broad Street BRT (bus rapid transit) corridor.

In other news, COTA this week finally restored COTA's website and its real-time tracking for buses for riders using either the Transit app or Google maps. The tracking service had been down since mid-December after COTA officials took all of its IT systems offline following a computer hack.

COTA spokesman Jeff Pullin said the next step is to restore Wi-Fi service on buses.

During the meeting, a group of four from Sunrise Movement Columbus, a youth-led effort to stop climate change, asked the board to implement a free-fare system for COTA, an idea the COTA board has no plans to implement.

Joseph Glandorf, one of the members from Marble Cliff, asked COTA to begin a one-free-weekday-a-week pilot program for two months.

"Columbus citizens deserve free public transit," he said.

Local developer and former COTA board member Bob Weiler has pushed free transit here for years.

But COTA revenue from fares is expected to be $12.8 million in 2023, just 6% of the $206 million in revenue COTA officials estimate to receive this year. Almost three-quarters of COTA's revenues — an estimated $151.7 million in 2023 — comes from COTA's 0.5% sales tax.

Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority in Washington, D.C. plans to have fare-free buses beginning July 1. The transit system in Kansas City, Missouri, began its ZeroFare program in 2020.

mferench@dispatch.com

@MarkFerenchik