The Carlisle City Council was presented with an opportunity last week to replace a section of asphalt trail along Gateway Drive with 6-inch thick concrete for only $90,000. Despite a lengthy discussion on the pros and cons of the project, a decision was deferred and the item tabled for a future meeting.

Friends of Carlisle Parks member Denny Woodruff brought the proposal to the council about a 0.3-mile section of the trail that will connect the Des Moines trail extension, to be known as the Karras-Kaul Connector Trail, to the Carlisle Nature Trail. He spoke at the March 11 city council meeting about an opportunity to work with the contractor that is installing the concrete Des Moines trail to upgrade the asphalt section while they were working in Carlisle.

Woodruff said the section of asphalt is in better condition than what is on the Summerset Trail, but the concrete would be good for about 30 years. Otherwise, he said bicyclists would have 10 miles of excellent trail out of Des Moines, a patch of asphalt and then concrete again.

“If I wasn’t spraying it with Roundup and that sort of thing it would be a lot worse than it is,” Woodruff said of the asphalt section.