Kalona supervisors receive update on trails plan

Sun January 06 2008
Posted Jan 6, 2008
5,467

The Board of Supervisors received an update on the county recreational trails plan at the meeting on Wednesday December 26. Tom Basten with the Iowa DNR and Lyle Moen with the Conservation Board and County Engineer's Office informed the board of the recent grants received from the Washington County Riverboat Foundation. A $12,000 grant will allow a structural study of the old English River Bridge near Kalona to determine the potential for a hiking and biking trail connection. A $5,000 grant will fund the placement of bike route signs along existing roads utilized by bicycles. Partial funding with a $150,000 grant will be set aside for the construction of a shared use trail from Ainsworth to Marr Park. Applications for other funding sources will complete the project within a five-year timetable. No monies were requested from the county at this meeting. Basten and Moen stressed that the implementation of the trails plan does have an economic benefit to the county. Other grants and funding sources are made available through the development of the county recreational trails plan, which would otherwise not be available. The highest priority for the plan will be a trail from Brighton to Lake Darling. See the accompanying complete trails map at right. County Engineer David Patterson presented a resolution in which Washington County would urge the State Legislature to implement liability protection for all counties from litigation from bicycle travelers using county roads. At a recent ISAC meeting, all counties were urged to individually approve and forward the resolution. The action is a result of Montgomery County recently settling litigation out of court for $350,000 in regards to a bicyclist's death occurring several years ago during RAGBRAI. The board will take action on the resolution at next week's meeting.