A 9-mile extension linking the High Trestle and Raccoon River Valley multi-use trails, forming a nearly continuous 120-mile paved loop though metro Des Moines that will be among the nation's longest, will open Aug. 17, said Dallas County Conservation Director Curt Cable.
The new segment is part of the High Trestle Trail, which originates in Ankeny and crosses the Des Moines River on a nationally known, 130-foot-tall former railroad bridge that features sculptured representations of the coal cribs that supported the ceilings of the region's coal mines.
Completed with a $1 million grant from the Iowa Economic Development Authority, the extension reaches from the trail's current western terminus in Woodward through Bouton to Perry, where it meets the Raccoon River Valley Trail, already a 72-mile loop though Dallas and Guthrie counties.