Davis County seeks $500,000 to pay for causeway riprap

FARMINGTON -- To preserve a $1 million road resurfacing project for Antelope Island causeway, which is set to begin this spring, Davis County has applied for an additional $500,000 in federal funds to pay for riprap.

The riprap, 3-foot-thick armor rock, would be used to line both sides of the causeway and help prevent the wave action of the Great Salt Lake from eroding the causeway road, Davis County Public Works Director Kirk Schmalz said.

On Tuesday, the Davis County Commission approved applying to the Utah Department of Transportation for the federal funds. If the county receives the funds, it has agreed to provide a $500,000 match, bringing the total amount of the rock project to $1 million.

The application for the rock funds holds the county's place in line for the federal aid, Schmalz said, adding that the aid could take up to five years to receive.

"Basically, all we are doing is getting in line for more money," he said Tuesday. "We want to reinforce (the causeway)."

According to a state study, the wave action on the Great Salt Lake can reach a height between 3 feet and 7.2 feet, depending on the section of road.

"We have not had the wave action that was experienced in the 1980s," Schmalz said.

The armor rock will be used to protect the sections of road where the wave action is the greatest.

Because of the cost involved in installing riprap along the entire length of the causeway and the limited amount of funding in the county's yearly public works budget, Schmalz said, the county is having to do the road preservation and protection work in phases.

The last time new riprap was placed along the causeway was in 2005, he said.

The county is applying for the riprap funds now, as it prepares to begin resurfacing the 7.2-mile causeway this spring.

Completion of the resurfacing project is planned for later this year.

Schmalz said the $1 million resurfacing project is also being shared between the county and state, adding that the county will perform the labor, while the state will oversee and sign off on the resurfacing work.