(Spirit Lake)– There’s nothing new to report in the status of getting permits approved for a bridge at the Lower Gar Outlet. Dickinson County Engineer Cole Budach told supervisors Tuesday a hydrologist has assembled some new projections on flow data that had been requested by state officials. Budach said he received that information this past Friday and forwarded it to the Iowa Department of Natural Resources.
While hydrologists say replacing the culverts with a bridge will help draw down the lakes faster during high water events, Supervisor Tim Fairchild says it likely would not have prevented the shoreline damage and bank collapses that occurred…
Concern had been expressed previously that a bridge could draw down the level of Lower Gar too much, but experts say the levels are controlled by the weir. It was also reported that the newest flow projections continue to indicate a bridge would not have detrimental effects at locations downstream on the Little Sioux River.