NORFOLK, Neb. (AP) - A natural resources district has approved a multiagency agreement to stabilize a bank of the Elkhorn River near Norfolk, where a man died when a railroad bridge collapsed during flooding in 2010.
The Lower Elkhorn Natural Resources District board voted 12-1 for the agreement Thursday night at its meeting in Norfolk. Norfolk and Madison counties, as part of the county transportation safety district, have already approved the deal. Several companies will benefit, including Nucor, Vulcraft and the Nebraska Central Railroad.
Officials have said the river changed course as a result of the flood, and they fear the bridge could wash out again in another deluge. The bridge sits about a half-mile southwest of Norfolk.
“The railroad is definitely a lifeline. It’s our only rail coming into the community,” said Norfolk City Administrator Shane Weidner. “If that rail goes down it’s crippling for our community, absolutely crippling.”
The companies will pay a third of the estimated $750,000 project cost in the public/private partnership.
Plans call for smoothing the river’s path by “gently working with Mother Nature to bring that alignment in,” Weidner said Friday. It’s unclear so far how long a stretch of the south bank will require the work.
It’s hoped the project will be finished by year’s end, he said.
Three Nebraska Central Railroad workers were dumped in the swollen river in June 2010 when the bridge collapsed as they checked it for safety. Two of the workers were pulled out of the river alive. The body of Jeff Scholl was found several days later.
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