With July coming, we need to prepare for another full-court push to pave more bike trails in McLeod County. Is this push coming from county residents? No, it will likely be led by the same small group of local politicians who follow the pied piper seeking “free” Legacy grants.
The problem is that these “free” grants come with strings obligating McLeod County for millions of dollars of maintenance costs over the next 20 years.
Two years ago, the McLeod County Trails Committee was informed about a 2012 Maintenance Plan created by the Local Road Research Board and SRF Consulting Group. Not surprisingly, this presentation points out that cracking is the No. 1 maintenance cost. This report emphasizes a “pay-now-or-pay-more-later” philosophy regarding regular maintenance. This is common sense for anyone taking care of a car or house also. The key points from the SRF Plan for a 10 foot wide trail are these costs per mile:
- Preventive maintenance costs (every 4 years) — $2,933/mile
- Minor rehabilitation (year 8) — $37,155/mile
- Major rehabilitation (year 20) — $62,577/mile
- Reconstruction (year 30) — $185,777/mile
These costs above are per mile. Currently, only 2 miles of the Dakota Rail Regional Trail are paved from Carver County into Lester Prairie. These local or former politicians are pushing to pave the remaining 18 miles of the trail from Lester Prairie into Hutchinson. Multiply the above numbers by 18 miles to get you to the future maintenance cost in the millions of dollars. Math does not lie.
At the Aug. 30, 2016, meeting of McLeod County Commissioners, three of the five commissioners, including commissioners representing Hutchinson, voted to agree to the county paying all maintenance costs for 20 years as a condition to apply for the Legacy grant for “free” grant money. The misleading Dakota Trail Maintenance Plan submitted before the vote at that meeting projected a per-mile cost of $258.44 to $452.88 per mile. This cost did not consider the No. 1 cost to maintain the asphalt surface!
Before the McLeod Commissioners vote for more “free” grants, they need to create an honest 20-year cost estimate similar to the comprehensive 2012 Maintenance Plan created by the LRRB and SRF Consulting Group. A copy of the report is available with the online version of this letter at hutchinsonleader.com.
Today our state and county are recovering from the damage caused by the virus from China. We need to rebuild our businesses and local economy. The last thing we should be doing is obligating McLeod County taxpayers into future costs of millions of dollars to take care of another paved bike trail.
