Milestone Contractors will begin work this week to remove about 200 trees near the State Road 46 and State Road 11 intersection on Columbus’ west side.
About 65 trees along the south side of State Road 46 and more than 100 trees along the railroad will be removed to prepare to the construction of an estimated $35 million railroad overpass.
Dave Hayward, executive director of public works and city engineer, said many of the trees have outgrown the area and are in the way of new construction.
The new overpass and cloverleaf interchange on the west side at State Road 46 and State Road 11 will allow motorists to avoid being slowed or stopped because of increasing railroad traffic projected to occur on the Louisville & Indiana Railroad tracks which pass through Columbus.
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After construction is completed near the end of 2020, an estimated 2,184 trees will be replanted in the area. Of the new trees, 658 will be planted in the interchange infield areas, and 1,526 will be planted for environmental mitigation and natural habitats.
“It costs money to remove trees,” Hayward said. “We don’t want to remove any more trees than we have to. We know there’s a lot of people who really like trees and don’t want to see trees removed, so we’re always trying to minimize that as much as possible.”
The tree removal cost is included in a line item called “Clearing R/W,” Hayward said. The bid for that item was $634,872, and other work is likely included in that bid item also, he said.
New trees to be planted in the floodway habitat mitigation are estimated to cost about $645,000, while the new infield tree plantings will cost an estimated $839,700, Hayward said.
Species of trees to be planted in the mitigation area range from large canopy trees to small understory trees, including Bur Oak, Shagbark Hickory, Black Walnut, Common Paw Paw and Silver Maple among others.
Tree species to be planted in the infield include Silver Maple, Common Hackberry, American Sweetgum, American Sycamore, White Oak and Bur Oak.
Hayward said the tree plantings are not included in the current contract. This work will be bid in August 2020 with construction in 2021.
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The estimated $35 million railroad overpass and cloverleaf interchange on the west side at State Road 46 and State Road 11 will allow motorists to avoid being slowed or stopped because of increasing railroad traffic projected to occur on the Louisville & Indiana Railroad tracks which pass through Columbus.
Louisville & Indiana has leased the tracks to CSX, and, after a massive rail improvement project, is planning to run high-speed rail on the line from Louisville to Indianapolis.
As construction begins on the overpass, west-side motorists are being advised to consider using County Road 325W and Lowell Road, a bypass that goes into southbound U.S. 31 and into the city’s business district on National Road.
To learn more, visit columbusrailroadproject.org.
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