Canal Public Information Meeting

You are invited to attend a public involvement meeting on Thursday, May 30 at Portage City Hall. The meeting will discuss the City of Portage, the Wisconsin Department of Naturals Resources (DNR), and Wisconsin Department of Transportation (WisDOT) plans for the next section of the historic Portage Canal in the City of Portage, Columbia County.

The subject of this meeting is the next downstream section of the canal, Segment 2, from Adams Street to the Canadian Pacific Railway Bridge. The City, DNR, and WisDOT are teaming up for the next section of the canal with coordinated remediation and path projects. The City and the DNR plan to enter an agreement to first remediate the contaminated sediment and then continue the 10-foot-wide shared-use path adjacent to the canal. The remediation will involve dredging and transporting contaminated sediment to a processing pad on DNR’s property near the railroad, and then hauling the dried material to a landfill. After the sediments are dredged, fill for the path would start to be placed to facilitate the continuation of the 10-foot-wide shared-use path. In addition, a bicycle/pedestrian bridge will be constructed at the Wisconsin River Locks (Segment 1), which will link the trail with commercial and residential areas of the city on either side of the canal.

A brief presentation will take place at 5:15 p.m. Staff from the City, WisDOT, DNR, and the design consultants, Short Elliott Hendrickson Inc. for the City and Anchor QEA for the DNR, will be on hand to answer questions about the project and receive input.
 
The City and DNR are looking to move the projects forward to completion. Canal remediation is scheduled for the 2020 calendar year and the path and pedestrian improvements are scheduled to begin in 2021, please feel free to contact Aaron Jahncke at (608) 742-2176 or aaron.jahncke@portagewi.gov for the path or Scott Inman at (608) 273-5613 or Scott.Inman@Wisconsin.gov for the remediation.