BOISE — An urban stretch of the New York Canal in Idaho’s Ada County will be relined at a much faster pace.

Boise Project Board of Control staff now aim to complete one-mile segments per year, in contrast to recent yearly progress of 400 to 500 feet.

Work began in 2014 to re-line a six-mile stretch of the canal perched above thousands of homes and other structures in the Boise area.

The Idaho Water Resource Board budgeted $50 million in American Rescue Plan Act funds, as authorized by the legislature.

The board prioritized the project, citing safety primarily.

Completion is expected by 2030 at a total cost of about $81 million, according to a news release from IWRB.

“This project is huge to us,” Bob Carter, who manages the Boise Project Board of Control, said in the release. “With the water board’s support, we’re going to do one mile of rehabilitation per year. That’s a big morale boost for our 100 employees, and we’ll get the project done in six years instead of 50.”

The Boise Project manages irrigation facilities and other works transferred to five irrigation districts by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation.

The Boise Project is the operating agent for the districts.

Reclamation owns New York Canal, which the Boise Project manages. Rehabilitation work has been done over the years on the canal, which the bureau completed in 1909.

Reclamation designated it an urban canal of concern for age- and safety-related reasons.

A funding request through Reclamation prompted public review of the relining project under the National Environmental Policy Act, officials said earlier.

Reclamation and the Boise Project earlier this year completed an environmental assessment “because we knew going into it there would be public interest in a canal lining of this magnitude,” Bryan Horsburgh, the bureau’s Snake River Area manager, told Capital Press. The assessment, part of the NEPA process that cost $100,000, resulted in a finding of no significant impact.

Water flows through New York Canal at about 2,500 cubic feet per second, according to the Water Resource Board release. The project involves deepening the canal to its original depth, and lining it.

Crews add a liner of non-woven polyesters bonded to a polyethylene geo-membrane.

On top of the liner, reinforcement bars and six inches of concrete are added.

Deepening the canal will allow the Boise Project to restore flow to its 2,800 cubic feet per second capacity, according to the board.

The work also is expected to save water so more can be left in storage.

Board members toured the project area as part of their regular bimonthly meeting Nov. 21-22.

New York Canal runs for 41 miles, from Diversion Dam on the Boise River west to Lake Lowell.