Dike costs go up

The City Beat reported earlier this week that the House was contemplating allocating $12 million for the Grand Cities' dike project.

It was kinda late in the day when I got the news so I didn't have a chance to ask why we're getting that much when the $40 million we got for this fiscal year was supposed to get us to "substantial completion."

Looks like the main reason is that dike costs just jumped recently. The last update we got from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers was in March when it was $407.8 million. But now the corps' estimating $416.7 million.

Bonnie Greenleaf, the corps project manager, said labor costs hadn't been updated in a while and, as the project progressed, engineers discovered it needed some modifications.

But the important thing is that the project is still on track for substantial completion at the end of the year.