WINONA, Minn. — Citizens concerned about losing century-old bridges in Winona County to a 900-mile coal train project received a primer Wednesday night in Winona city hall on the bureaucratic process to save them, the Winona Daily News reports.
Dennis Gimmestad, a compliance officer with the state Historic Preservation Office in St. Paul, said he prompted the meeting because public input had been lacking. A survey two years ago showed 310 of 387 railroad bridges in the state have some historic value and lie on the path of Dakota, Minnesota and Eastern Railroad’s plan to ship coal across Minnesota.
But the course for protection appears uncertain and citizens expressed frustration over the lack of specifics.
“In this case, we don’t know because the final (railroad project) design is not done yet,” Gimmestad said.
The state historical society, the federal Surface Transportation Board, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and DM&E are reviewing historical and archaeological sites along the track, and these parties eventually must agree on how, or if, they are protected. Gimmestad has not seen specific DM&E blueprints for construction and said, “We won’t have a final design when we sign this.”
He said his office is coming into the tangled DM&E regulatory process late in the game “because we didn’t feel there was enough information.”
And because his office is one of the last regulatory hurdles, he said “there is indirect pressure (to approve a plan).”
DM&E President Kevin Schieffer said Wednesday that project construction would be done “without jeopardizing structural integrity and safety issues.
“We’re not in the business of going around looking for additional work,” he said.
However, he is aware of the bridges’ significance.
“A couple of them are particularly beautiful from an aesthetic standpoint. It would be really nice if we can preserve them, and if we can, we will. If there is something that we can work out, let’s work it out.”
Six bridges, originally built between 1880 and 1907, support DM&E track over valleys in Winona County. An 1882 twin-arch bridge in Farmers Park is the most well-known, giving an area near Stockton its name, The Arches. The bridges were on a 2001 list of Minnesota’s Ten Most Endangered Historic Properties.
DM&E still must secure federal permits for impacting 1,200 wetlands and faces a growing force of lawsuits from local governments and citizen groups, the latest coming from the Sioux of South Dakota.
Written comments may be submitted by April 10 to: State Historic Preservation Office, 345 Kellogg Blvd W., St Paul, MN, 55102.