The $555 billion omnibus spending bill approved by Congress Wednesday includes $10.8 million for Napa River flood control.

This is less than the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and local leaders had asked for, but enough to begin construction next summer of two railroad bridges — one to cross the Napa River, the other to cross a future bypass channel.

Realizing how tight flood money is this year, project backers had resigned themselves to getting only a modest appropriation, said Heather Stanton, local flood project manager.

The $10.8 million won’t be enough to complete the two bridges, which are likely to cost $16 million or more, but at least it gets this critical phase of the flood project under way, Stanton said.

Funding for the 2008 construction season will be half what the Corps of Engineers had to spend this year. The project got $21 million in 2007, allowing the corps to finish construction of flood defense from Napa Mill to First Street in downtown and begin design of Napa Creek improvements.

It will take multiple years for the corps to complete the new railroad bridges and relocate Napa Valley Wine Train tracks slightly to the east of their present location, Stanton said.

This work, which will eliminate an obstruction to flood waters, is estimated to cost at least $40 million. The corps intends to award a multi-year contract in the spring for all the railroad construction, although only $10.8 million’s worth will occur the first year, Stanton said.

Napa Mayor Jill Techel, who chairs the local flood board, said the 2008 allocation was “not great,” but at least Napa was getting more than the $7.5 million originally recommended by the White House.

The coming year will be one of visible progress, Techel said. Besides the start of the railroad work, the reconstructed Veteran’s Memorial Park will reopen and a portion of the river promenade will debut, she said.

Earlier this year, the House of Representatives passed a spending bill that would have given $7.5 million for the Napa project, Stanton said. The Senate later bumped it up to almost $11 million, which is the amount approved by the House on Wednesday.

Bush is expected to sign the omnibus bill, which includes $70 billion for the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, said a spokesman for Rep. Mike Thompson, D-St. Helena.

The corps has already submitted its request for $21 million for the 2009 construction season, Stanton said. The fact that the corps will have awarded a multi-year contract to begin the railroad work may help Napa’s chances for greater funding to complete the contract, she said.

Thompson’s office said the omnibus spending bill also included $4.37 million to strengthen levees in West Sacramento.

The bill also allocates $230,000 for Napa River dredging, $28.4 million for Pierce’s disease research, $5.3 million for Sudden Oak Death Syndrome research, $743,000 for olive fruit fly research and $1.9 million for viticulture and tree crop research.

In an earlier bill, Thompson helped secure future funding for the St. Helena flood project for an unspecified number of years. The corps is authorized to do $30 million in flood control and environmental restoration Upvalley, with the federal government contributing $19.5 million and the state and locals raising the rest.