The Washington County Conservation Board met August 9th. Photo by Sam McIntosh.

The paved portion of the Kewash Nature Trail in the City of Washington will undergo a resurfacing project.

Washington County Conservation Executive Director Steve Anderson worked with Washington City Administrator Brent Hinson and County Engineer Jacob Thorius to develop a plan with LL Pelling Co. to do asphalt repairs and enhancements on the already paved portion of the trail that extends west to Highway 1, with a contract not to exceed $92,500. The project will be funded with funds already obtained for the Kewash trail spur TAP grant project. Anderson explains the cause for this project, “One of the good challenges we have is that we are sitting in a situation where we have funds potentially available that are beyond the original contract. And so we’re working together in an effort to spend them wisely and get extra things done. One of which is commonly expressed by many of our patrons is that the section of the trail originally asphalt is in some dire need of repairs.”

Hinson comments on the conservation board’s use of funding for the trail spur, “We’ve done everything we can to maximize the use of the federal dollars. Now the federal dollars and the state dollars are not eligible for this work, but essentially in trying to use all our federal and state dollars on the stuff that is eligible we have essentially conservation and city funding and Riverboat funding that’s potentially available for this use, so we think it’s a great use.”

The board approved moving forward with the resurfacing. Anderson hopes the project will happen concurrently with the Kewash project happening on the west side of Highway 1 starting September 4th.