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The Pueblo Chieftain Online Page 2 of 2 just enough to give fish a little pool and place to rest and feed. The weirs function up to about 150 cubic feet per second, Hobson said, and higher flows will go over the tops of the weirs. The structures of the kayak course will even out the drop from the Aquila dam, making it possible for fish to travel upstream and downstream. All this is supposed to be great for the fish and the fishermen. "I went up fishing one day after they got some of those structures in and I didn't get a bite in three hours," Hobson said with a chuckle. "But I've heard the fishing's been pretty good on the river." In addition to finishing the pools, the project includes building a box culvert coming off Aquila's bypass gate, 6 feet high by about 45 feet long, which will empty into the first pool of the course, Hobson said. When the structures and the landscaping are finished later this spring, the Army Corps of Engineers' part of the project will be finished. Hobson said a ribbon - cutting ceremony will probably be scheduled some time in May, but kayakers and fishermen will be able to benefit from the project as soon as the work is done. "Even at 60 cubic feet per second, the first pool is working the way it's supposed to," he added. That's about the normal wintertime flow in that part of the river, because much of the natural flow is being stored behind Pueblo Dam for ditch companies and farmers to use during the growing season. The river trail from Dutch Clark Stadium to Santa Fe Avenue has been torn up during the work, which also included moving a sewer line in the riverbed through that area. The trail won't be restored for a while, Hobson said. The Colorado Department of Transportation has plans to replace the Fourth Street Bridge, but they have been delayed, according to Dean Sandoval of CDOT. "Realistically, we're a year- and -a -half out from advertising for bids, and construction might start a few months after that," Sandoval said last week. State funding may still be an issue: "It's about a $20 million project and we're presently several million short," Sandoval said. But Hobson said the rebuilding of the river trail from Fourth Street up to Dutch Clark will wait on the bridge project. If we rebuild the trail, they'll just have to tear it up again when they replace the bridge, so this summer it will probably be pretty rough," he said. The trail below the bridge will be replaced this fall, after the boating season ends. The city hopes for a CDOT grant to help with that work. 01996- 2005The Pueblo Chieftain Online http: / /www. chieftain. com /print.php ?article = /Metro /l 107790687/1 2/7/2005