Crews are finishing installing and painting the bridges on Phase 2 of the Salt Creek Trail.

Next, the county commissioners need to find a firm to build and pave the trail itself.

Last week, the commissioners rejected a bid from Monroe LLC — the only bidder — since the company was not a "pre-certified contractor," Brown County Highway Superintendent Mike Magner said. The bid was for $298,981.

Magner recommended the commissioners reject the bid and then advertise again. Eight contractors had requested and picked up plans and specifications, but only one bid package was actually submitted.

Magner is the “ERC” (employee of responsible charge), or local point person with the state for this project, which is being conducted in partnership with the Indiana Department of Transportation and Department of Natural Resources.

The Salt Creek Trail is envisioned to link Brown County State Park with downtown Nashville. Planning for the paved, multi-use trail started in October 2002.

The first three-quarter-mile section opened in 2013 between CVS and the YMCA, following Salt Creek. It sees heavy use by locals and by visitors seeking a safer way into downtown Nashville than crossing State Road 46.

Since 2013, the commissioners, the highway superintendent and INDOT have mostly worked on the trail section that’s under way now, between the state park and the school-owned Eagle Park. Eagle Park is where the schools’ softball, baseball, soccer and cross-country facilities are, so, when it’s all connected, students and fans will be able to use the trail to get to their practices and games, too.

Right now, there is no middle section, though.

Phase 1 ends at the YMCA, and Phase 2 is the section being worked on now, beginning at the state park pool area and ending at the RedBarn Jamboree, going around the back of the Eagle Park property. Due to the school’s cross-country schedule, construction on that phase, including pavement, must be done by Sept. 1, Magner said.

Phase 3 will be the middle section, between the RedBarn Jamboree and the YMCA. The route and timetable for that section are not yet known.

Phase 2, between the state park and Eagle Park, was supposed to be completed by the end of last year, but due to a harsh winter, construction is now expected to be done by May.

"It won’t take them long where they are at. They are moving right along," Magner said.

The second bridge near the state park is now under a tarp, being prepped for paint. Its concrete deck has been poured.

The first bridge, visible from State Road 46 East near the RedBarn, is still under construction, as the structure had to be modified before it could be painted. The crews had moved to the second bridge before the other was complete.

"If you noticed driving by there within the last couple of weeks, they had it jacked up at the bottom. They were making some structural changes," Magner said about the first bridge.

Those bridge sections used to span the Eel River on State Road 46 in Clay County. INDOT relocated them here at the state’s expense. A plaque will be placed on the bridges letting visitors know the history of them, Magner said.

Funding for the multimillion-dollar Salt Creek Trail project has come from the Indiana Department of Transportation and the Indiana Department of Natural Resources. Some local donors also helped with Phase 1.

<strong>Park admission?</strong>

The Salt Creek Trail will provide another way, other than the three main park gates, to enter Brown County State Park.

The trail will route through the north gate — the one by the covered bridge — and standard admission rates will apply for anyone who walks or bikes in, said Ginger Murphy, the deputy director for stewardship for the DNR’s Division of State Parks.

Day use for a pedestrian or bicycle rider is $2 for each person over the age of 5. An annual pedestrian and bicycle pass is $10.

The regular, annual park pass for vehicles ($50) can also be used by anyone walking or riding a bike on the Salt Creek Trail section in the state park.

<strong>The middle part</strong>

Last July, an environmental report was published on the county’s website for Phase 3, the missing middle phase.

The environmental report was not a project design; it focuses on the environmental aspect of possibly putting a trail where the engineers have mapped it to possibly go, and studies whether there would be any adverse environmental impacts. But the document did show the “preliminary alignment” of the middle phase. Maps show it continuing to run mostly along Salt Creek until it reaches State Road 46. Then, it would run generally along State Road 46 until it reaches Parkview Road.

The maps show multiple property owners’ land being involved, but no agreements have been made on land transfers yet. Because federal money is involved in the project, the county has to follow the National Environmental Policy Act process. After the environmental report process is finished, then appraisals and offers can be made, Magner said earlier in 2020.

INDOT had given residents until July 31 to make a comment on the environmental report, to request information or a public meeting.

One resident emailed the commissioners requesting a public hearing and copied the newspaper on his request. Magner said he was going to forward that request to INDOT since they are responsible for the report. Last month, that same resident emailed the commissioners again asking about the status of a hearing, since he hadn’t heard anything about it.

INDOT did not answer question about the status of that hearing by deadline.

At the April 7 commissioners meeting, Magner said Phase 3 was still in the design phase "moving along not quite as fast of a pace."

"We do not have property for it," he said.

Commissioner Diana Biddle explained that since the phase will be federally funded that means the county cannot talk to perspective property owners about acquiring real estate until they are halfway through the design.

“It puts us in a real catch-22, and unfortunately, that is what has caused some of the communication difficulties in past. Not on our part, but because we have to follow these federal aid rules, and sometimes it looks like we’re not communicating, but it’s not because we don’t want to," Biddle said.

Magner added that if the county does not follow the rules, the federal government could pull funding.

"We have had discussions in the past. We hope we can get beyond this design stuff so we can start having those discussions again," Biddle said.

<strong>Committee status</strong>

A Salt Creek Trail Committee had helped guide the progress of Phase 1 of the trail when some fundraising was necessary, but that committee was dissolved several years ago. Biddle said since the remaining phases are funded, a committee is not needed at this time.

"I think we’re going to want to do some fundraising locally to extend the trail to the school, and that was an agreement made years ago when they allowed them to mitigate the trees over by the ball diamonds was that we would eventually try to connect the schools," Biddle said.

"I think, at that point, there will be a function for a Friends of the Salt Creek Trail group to do that."