Mickelson Trail retaining wall work/detour starts Monday

DEADWOOD The official start of a Mickelson Trail traffic detour begins Monday as a result of the US Highway 85 reconstruction project. Those traversing the trail will encounter a temporary trail detour in the vicinity of Twin City Hardware, as crews begin work on the Mickelson Trail retaining wall portion of the project.

At Tuesdays public construction progress meeting, Deadwood Planning and Zoning Administrator Bob Nelson, Jr. asked how long it would be before the trail would be back to normal.

Weve got a 30 day window to put the wall in and the trail will be built back on top of the wall, explained Chris Audiss, project manager for Oftedal Construction.

He estimated crews would actually spend around six weeks working on the retaining wall, which will end up with steeper temporary tie-ins to the existing trail, as grade and fill will coincide with the final phase of the project in 2016.

Its not going to look the same, Audiss said. It wont be the same trail in that area.

Next weeks Mickelson Trail work includes removing rail on the Mickelson Trail and temporarily relocating an SDN line, as well as removing lighting on the existing Mickelson Trail and begin grading, in order to begin settling block March 16.

A light pole across from Twin City Hardware will need to be removed for the Mickelson Trail temporary detour.

The Super 8 billboard near the Mickelson Trail retaining wall work site will be removed, as it is entirely within the DOT right of way.

It was noted at the public meeting that Super 8 has asked about options for relocation. South Dakota Department of Transportation Auston Harris said that the DOT does not have any options for relocation at this time and asked if the city of Deadwood has any locations available.

Billboards arent allowed, Nelson said. Its only there because its been there.

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Mickelson Trail retaining wall work/detour starts Monday