TERRE HAUTE —
A 4-mile section of a trail along the Wabash River, which eventually will surround the exterior of the Wabashiki Fish & Wildlife Area, is nearly complete, along with construction of a walking bridge that spans a former levee.
Vigo County Park employees last week placed more than 1,000 tons of No. 73 gravel, with each stone measuring about one inch or smaller, on top of a former agricultural levee that twice passes under Interstate 70.
The section of the trail starts at Sampson Drive, about a half mile south of the Kerman Grotto near the Wabash River, and goes south, following the Wabash River, going twice under Interstate 70 and looping north to about South 10th Street in West Terre Haute.
Keith Ruble, Vigo County Parks and Recreation Department superintendent, said gravel was used, as it is about 40 percent cheaper than white flume rock and it visually blends better into the natural environment along that section of the trail.
“The stone is three inches thick and when it is rolled in place, it really sets up hard,” Ruble said. “This stone is used a lot for road foundations because it sets up hard. We still have to roll it down on the trail.”
The trail needed a bridge to span a washed-out portion of the former agricultural levee. The parks department paid about $5,000 to move four 51-foot steel beams, which had supported an abandoned farm bridge about three miles south of Interstate 70. Those beams were welded together into two 90-foot steel expanses, Ruble said.
The steel beams, which had rested on property acquired by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Service, were then used to form the base of a new trail bridge, still under construction.
The bridge and trail are being additionally funded with $30,000 from the Wabash River Development and Beautification Inc., a nonprofit group that seeks to enhance the river.
Most of that money is part of $50,000 Vigo County gave to the development and beautification group from the county’s Economic Development Income Tax fund.
The next section of the trail will be placed atop the West Terre Haute Levee, near South 10th Street, then curving north to Dewey Point, on the eastern edge of West Terre Haute.
Ruble said white rock flume is expected to be used on the working levee as “it sets up even harder, like concrete, when rolled in place. It is more expensive, but we want this levee to stay put. We used gravel on the old agricultural levee because that levee doesn’t protect anything now,” Ruble said.
Ruble said that portion of the trail could be let for bids yet this year, but the project must still receive permit approval from the Indiana Department of Natural Resources and the U.S. Corps of Engineers.
He said the parks department is seeking legal advice to see if it can advertise for the work and receive bids, then hold those bids until state and federal permits are obtained.
“We are trying to speed this up to take advantage of the very dry conditions, so we can start work on this late this summer and into the fall,” Ruble said.
Drought conditions this summer have allowed parks department employees to work on the trail around the Wabashiki Fish and Wildlife Area as the department has ceased mowing grass in county parks, he said.
Reporter Howard Greninger can be reached at (812) 231-4204 or howard.greninger@tribstar.com.
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Related Photos
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Tribune-Star/Jim Avelis Bridge to somewhere: Work is well under way on the new Wabashiki Trail bridge. Two 90 foot long spans make up the bridge, carrying the walking trail over a washed-out portion of an agricultural levee south of West Terre Haute.
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Tribune-Star/Jim Avelis Recycled: The center support for the new Wabashiki Trail bridge came from Hawthorn Park where it was in its second life as a lamp post.
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