A major bridge construction project in southwestern Washington County moved a step closer to fruition at Tuesday’s Washington County Board of Supervisors meeting. County Engineer Jacob Thorius informed the board that the current plan for the replacement of the bridge near McKain’s Access that crosses the Skunk River will impact a small portion of area wetlands. Thorius explained that when a project changes the wetland environment, the Army Corps of Engineers requires mitigation of any wetland territory lost. In the case of the McKain’s access project it’s 0.22 acres. Thorius described the courses of action the county can take to satisfy the Corps of Engineer’s requirements. “Unfortunately, there are some wetlands in the area that we cannot avoid. We are going to impact 0.22 acres of natural wetlands. As part of this process we have to mitigate that impact. There is a couple of ways we can do that. We can create our own wetlands somewhere else, monitor that for three to five years, maybe 10 years depending on the Corps of Engineers says and make sure it gets established. Or we can purchase credits from an established wetland mitigation bank where they have already established wetlands and a drainage area. We have chosen to purchase the credits.”

The Supervisors approved the purchase of credits for the 0.22 acres from the Nahant Marsh Wetland Mitigation Bank from Davenport at a cost of $13,000, which will come from the County Engineer’s budget.  The project will replace the current bridge over the Skunk River, expanding the total width of the crossing from 21.9 to 30 feet. Estimated cost for the construction is $6.5 million. McKain’s River Access is cared for by both the Iowa Department of Natural Resources and Washington County according to a 25-year agreement, ratified in May of 2019.