County engineer reports progress on Stewart Road and Deep Lakes; electrical pedestal issues may delay campground opening

County Engineer Brian Rochowski updated the Muscatine County Board of Supervisors on Sept. 29 about several ongoing infrastructure projects, including Stewart Road paving, a box culvert project on 160th Street, completion of the jail exterior panel project, and work at the Deep Lakes campground.

On Stewart Road, Rochowski said crews "got 2 days of paving in" and estimated they were roughly halfway between Fruitland Road and 50 Seventh Street. He described progress on a box culvert on 160th Street and said concrete pours were expected to finish that week.

Rochowski told supervisors the county had closed out the jail exterior panel project and would issue final payment after completing a small punch list and resodding the front yard. A separate community-service project at the jail is under way and includes excavation for foundation waterproofing and drainage work.

Work at Deep Lakes has progressed: "1,826 tons of asphalt was laid," Rochowski said, and all camp roads have been installed. Major remaining work includes final grading, setting electric pedestals, pulling feeder lines and energizing transformers. MPW transformers are in place, he said.

However, the engineer warned of a potential delay for campground electrical activation. Contractors installed a unique pad-mounted pedestal that did not meet quality or installation needs; obtaining replacement brackets and parts could take up to five weeks. Rochowski said the electrician prefers to wait to pull wires until all pedestals are set to avoid leaving exposed feeder wire that could be stolen. "He's worried about wires sticking up out of the conduit...so he's gonna wait till the pedestals are set to pull all the wires," he said. Because of the pedestal issue and the sequencing of electrical work, Rochowski said he did not "see" an opportunity to open the campground at all this fall.

Rochowski also reminded the board of a letting next Monday for the box culvert on 180th Street and reported the county would test camper pedestals once the electrical work is complete.

The board approved a utility permit request from Eastern Iowa Light and Power to bore and place electric on Zachary Avenue between a substation and a location near SSAB; the permit was approved by motion with no roll-call tally recorded in the transcript.

Rochowski's comments provided multiple project-status updates and identified a specific supply/installation risk for the campground electrical work; the board did not take further action on the Deep Lakes timing at the meeting beyond hearing the update.