Raccoon River Valley Trail will be resurfaced

Thu December 21 2006
Posted Dec 21, 2006
5,614

A portion of the Raccoon River Valley Trail in Guthrie County will be resurfaced in 2007, the Guthrie County Conservation Board unanimously decided last week. The 10-mile trail section from Linden to Yale is 17 years old and the asphalt surface is badly deteriorated. The cost to rehabilitate was estimated at $600,000 two years ago. Over two-thirds of that amount has been raised and the conservation board voted to resurface the RRVT from Panora south to near Linden during the 2007 construction season. The remainder will be completed when additional funding becomes available. The conservation board and executive director Joe Hanner have been scouring for rehabilitation funds for a couple of years while attempting to patch the trail to keep it safe for bicyclists and other trail users. However, the deteriorated condition in Guthrie County, coupled with resurfacing of 26 miles in Dallas County in 2005 have translated into decreased trail usage locally. Earlier this year, the conservation board was awarded a $175,000 State Recreational Trails Grant from the Iowa Department of Transportation. Also, the Guthrie County board of supervisors budgeted $100,000 for trail resurfacing. Additionally, the conservation board appropriated $91,000 from its REAP (Resource Enhancement and Protection) state funds, $35,000 from its own conservation account, and received donations and pledges from individuals and businesses totaling $39,400. With more than $440,000 now available, the conservation board felt comfortable with proceeding on trail resurfacing from Heritage Park in Panora to the Dallas County line near Linden. Guthrie County engineer Kris Katzmann has estimated the project, with 4-inch asphalt overlay, at $419,145. The conservation board, consisting of Jeff Bump of Panora, Mike Rees and Scott Benton of Guthrie Center, Lyle Reynolds of Menlo and Mike Laabs of Jamaica, also announced it will seek a $25,000 grant from the Guthrie County Community Foundation to cover any cost escalations or for additional resurfacing. The conservation board and Hanner will continue to pursue other avenues of state and federal assistance as well. "All of us who know the potential of these trails wish there was more state money available for maintenance and major projects like resurfacing," said Chuck Offenburger of Cooper who is secretary of the RRVT Association. "But there just isn't, at least yet. So what it takes is a tremendous local effort like Guthrie County has made. All of us who are regular users of the RRVT will be really grateful to Guthrie County for this." He said that "the payback for Guthrie County's investment in this will come when a growing number of trail users start driving more economic development and tourism all along the trail."