Trail Bridge???

Post date: Aug 06, 2013 6:37:26 PM

Johnson Lake footbridge gets one more shot

By LORI POTTER Hub Staff Writer | Posted: Tuesday, August 6, 2013 11:30 am

HOLDREGE — Central Nebraska Public Power and Irrigation District officials will take one more look at the pros and cons of installing a pedestrian bridge across the Johnson Lake outlet canal as a hike-bike trail link.

At Monday’s CNPPID board meeting in Holdrege, it was decided that staff will attend the Aug. 20 Johnson Lake Development Inc. meeting and then make a report and/or recommendation at the board’s Aug. 23 committee meeting about whether to move ahead with the project. There has been no smooth sailing since Central officials accepted the bridge as a gift from the Eilers family of Lexington.

Sailboat owners have said that putting the bridge across the outlet canal will cut off their access to dock and boat storage areas unless they lower their masts, which could be a safety concern. Bruce Smith, a sailboat owner and JLDI member, said Monday the plan has involved “good people all

the way around,” but the consequences weren’t understood when CNPPID accepted the 101-foot bridge donated by Eilers Machine and Welding of Lexington to honor the firm’s founder, the late Brian Eilers. Smith said the value of the bridge is $260,000. He said that in addition to the sailboat issues, CNPPID officials should take a closer look at the costs to install the bridge. Smith said other projects, such as dredging that would provide better water

access for firefighters, might have more benefit to more Johnson Lake residents.

He also said the pedestrian bridge probably won’t affect the hike-bike trail use because people already can cross the outlet on the road bridge.

When Central Director Robert Dahlgren of Bertrand said JLDI needs to make a request of CNPPID, Smith said a resolution was passed that asks for another review of the bridge project. Directors Dahlgren, Robert Mueller of Ogallala and David Rowe of Johnson Lake said they wanted to

defer any additional action until after the Aug. 20 JLDI meeting.

In other business, CNPPID Irrigation Division Manager Dave Ford said rain that fell over much of Gosper, Phelps and Kearney counties last week helped reduce some irrigation pressure. However, the region remains about 7 inches behind the year-to-date precipitation average.

There are two runs left in the abbreviated 2013 irrigation season in which Central customers were limited to 10 inches of water per acre instead of the normal 15 to 18 inches.

Civil Engineer Cory Steinke said he had planned to start cutting water releases from Lake McConaughy next Monday, but already reduced the rate to 1,300 cubic feet per second because of the rain. Normal releases for this time of the growing season are 2,000 to 3,000 cfs.

CNPPID officials announced last week that the last irrigation run scheduled to end Sept. 2 will make use of water already in the Supply Canal and Jeffrey, Plum Creek, Midway and Johnson lakes. Those lakes will start declining next week. Johnson Lake could drop 8 feet before slowly rising after irrigation season.

Lake McConaughy was half full Monday morning, with a volume of 870,000 acre-feet, Steinke said.

Inflows of 234 cfs at Lewellen were 23 percent of average. Steinke explained that those flows equal a call for 200 cfs by an irrigation district below Kingsley Dam with senior water rights, so the inflow is pass-through water that doesn’t benefit Central.

Natural Resources Manager Mike Drain said there is positive news for Johnson Lake. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service officials have said the Platte River benefits expected from the J-2 re-regulating reservoirs to be built downstream from the J-2 hydro may end requirements to hold down Johnson Lake levels in the spring and summer.