Hokah Forever wall slated for demo in 2015

On the surface, its just a retaining wall thats going to be replaced after surpassing its life expectancy. But for the city of Hokah and its residents, it isnt just any retaining wall.

An iconic landmark greeting visitors as they enter town on Minnesota Hwy. 44 north, whats commonly known as the Hokah Forever wall, is slated to be replaced come the summer of 2015, and with it, the colorful montage that adorns a good stretch of it.

The Minnesota Department of Transportation hosted an open in Hokah on Jan. 28 to take comments and some criticism about the proposed project, which will replace the current concrete wall with a 1:3 stable vegetated slope that could be filled with plants, flowers and green space.

In doing so, the hill would improve the drainage system for the city that currently discharges storm water into a concrete flume between the two retaining walls (theres a stone wall behind the concrete one), as well as eliminate a wall thats shown signs of its age through cracking, rotation and movement.

Its past its original design life, said Anthony Wagner, a program development engineer with MnDOT. We dont know the exact age of it, but the original wall was constructed in the early 1900s and its exhibiting signs of failure. ... There are some drainage things with it, but the real reasons is that its just exceeded its life.

But in order to achieve the proposal, MnDOT will have to acquire right-of-way, which includes partial takes of property owned by two residents north of the wall and nearly all property owned by Ryan Blexrud including his house and garage, which would be demolished to make way, Wagner said.

Our right-of-way folks have met with all those who are going to be affected, he said. At least theyve been made aware of the intent and the process thats been started.

The project is budgeted at $500,000, but because its a MnDOT project, the state will cover the lions share of the bill, Wagner said. The city may be responsible for a small cost related to the drainage, but not the entire project like was once thought. The selected option, though, is the most cost-effective and most desirable, he said.

Weve looked at a few different options. One was to remove and construct a new wall, Wagner said. (But) there were a lot of impacts to these parcels just to construct that wall. We wouldve taken all of those trees. There wouldve been significant damage to those properties.

The graded slope option was about half the cost of replacing it with another wall, and that includes the right-of-way acquisition, Wagner said.

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Hokah Forever wall slated for demo in 2015