Federal Officials Give OK to Resuming Alice's Road Design, Work

Work to plan, bid and construct the Alice's Road interchange with Interstate 80 can resume.

According to a news release, the cities of West Des Moines and Waukee have been told the Fish and Wildlife Service of the U.S. Department of the Interior agrees with the determination by the Federal High Administration that the Alice’s Road/105th Street interchange project is “not likely to adversely affect” the endangered Indiana bat.

Waukee Mayor Bill Peard said, “This is very positive news for the project. It enables the construction of this interchange and the associated roadways to stay on schedule.”

Workers for Stantec Consulting Services Inc. -- the company hired by the cities to complete a mist net survey for the bat -- did not find the bat in two attempts this spring. The Indiana bats spend most of their time hibernating in caves in northeastern states and roost in wooded areas in the summer months, which is when they are most likely to be found in Iowa.

The consultant's work was to determine how the habitat of the endangered Indiana bat species will be affected by the Alice’s Road/105th Street interchange. Discovery of the bat about five-eighths of a mile from the proposed $31 million interchange has slowed work on the project.

Fish and Wildlife Services officials also said they look forward to working with the two cities, the Highway Administration and the Iowa Department of Transportation to further avoid and minimize affects to the Indiana bat during the planning of the additional road projects in the development corridor.  

The cities and their engineering firm can continue to prepare the environmental impact assessment for the Alice's Road project, according to the news release. The environmental impact assessment must be approved by IDOT and federal highway officials before approval of the final design and bid-letting process.

West Des Moines Mayor Steve Gear said, “The concurrence by the Fish and Wildlife Service with this determination means that we can move forward with the planning of this project and ultimately provide transportation access to our growing communities.”

The final interchange design will likely be completed in the summer of 2014 and the bid letting of the project will be conducted in late summer of 2014.