Flood plain project finish delayed

RANDOLPH – Weather events in January will push back the completion date of the Middle Logan Creek Floodplain Project.

The second and final phase of the project was expected to be completed in March and now most likely will finish in April or May, said Ben Benton, Randolph’s city administrator/ clerk.

He estimated Iron Mike Construction, the project’s general contractor, had about five weeks of work to finish bank maintenance and seeding.

Once construction is finished, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will submit their final paperwork a few months afterward. Then the city will submit completion documents to the Federal Emergency Management Agency for new maps.

With a routine re-mapping of Cedar County already underway, Benton is optimistic the overall re-mapping timeline will be shortened from the original estimate of two years.

Once out of the floodplain, property owners with a federally-backed mortgage will no longer have to pay flood insurance.

The project reduces Randolph properties in the floodplain by 95 percent.

“Now, it’s our turn, our time to shine and to have the growth our neighbors have had,” Benton said.

A dedication of the finished project will likely be pushed back until the summer or fall.

“Four years is a long time to be under construction,” Benton said. “It’ll be nice when all the big equipment finally disappears and all the construction stops and we get back to all of the peace and quiet we had.”