LINCOLN, Nebraska – The Lower Platte South Natural Resources District (LPSNRD) Board of Directors approved $2.56 million in grant funding for the Deadmans Run Flood Reduction Project Nov. 18, 2020. The money completes a grant announced in 2019 from the Nebraska Water Sustainability Fund, which is administered by the Nebraska Natural Resources Commission (Commission). Approximately $3.3 million of the $5.8 million grant was awarded last year and the Commission utilized a “CAP” tool to carry the remainder of the grant over to this year. The City of Lincoln and LPSNRD are equal local sponsors for the project.

The Deadmans Run Flood Reduction Project is in the final design stage, with design approval and land rights acquisition expected starting in 2021. Construction should begin in 2022. The Water Sustainability Fund grant will be applied to the local sponsor’s cost of lengthening/replacing three bridges and it will help with the cost of constructing a stormwater detention basin. Other portions of the project are being constructed and funded with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. 

“This funding from the Water Sustainability Fund, through the Natural Resources Commission, will support local Deadmans Run project obligations and is greatly appreciated," said LPSNRD Board Chair Larry Ruth. "It will contribute to improved flood control in a highly developed Lincoln watershed.”

The project will reduce the floodplain area so essentially 500 homes and businesses will no longer be in the floodplain.  

The NRD Board also approved the Rosa Parks Trail Project resolution concurring with the Nebraska Department of Transportation’s awarding of a construction contract to build a railroad undercrossing along Lincoln’s Salt Creek Levee Trail near 1st & “J” Streets. This action allows the Nebraska Department of Transportation to approve the low bid from MTZ Construction, of Lincoln, to build the undercrossing for approximately $1.2 million. LPSNRD’s share will be approximately $248,000. The project will provide an improved and more direct route and not require pedestrians to utilize the existing undersized box culvert.   

In other action the Board:

• Approved an Individual Unfunded Cooperative Agreement with the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service, with which LPSNRD works closely on many conservation projects with landowners. The agreement describes, in detail, the partnership and responsibilities of both agencies.
• Awarded a construction contract to H.R. Bookstrom Construction, of Lincoln, for repairs of four drainage pipes through the Salt Creek Levee, near “A” Street and Van Dorn Street ($230,000)
• Approved professional services by the Phoenix Web Group for groundwater database improvements (not to exceed $30,800)
• Approved the purchase of two vehicles, one with trade-in ($55,000)
• Approved the settlement of a claim by Stan and Bonnie Litty related to delays in the construction of the Oak Middle Creek Dam 82-B rehabilitation project north of Garland  ($1,800)
• Approved three cost-sharing applications for land owners to install water quality improvement projects totaling $35,000