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Feds for second time choose not to fund 9-mile connector trail between RRVT and High Trestle Trail

  • Sat July 07 2012
  • Posted Jul 7, 2012
A proposal to build a 9-mile “connector trail” between the Raccoon River Valley Trail and the High Trestle Trail has, for a second time, not been selected for federal funding under a U.S. Department of Transportation program called “TIGER.” That acronyn stands for “Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery.”

Dallas County Conservation officials learned this week that their application for $4 million in TIGER funds, which they filed in the early spring, is not on the list of projects receiving grants in the 2012 round of funding. A similar application was by-passed in the fall of 2011 for funding then.

The proposed connector trail would stretch from Perry through Bouton to Woodward, thus connecting the most popular recreational trails in west central and central Iowa. Its total cost is estimated at $5 million, meaning local advocates planned to raise the additional $1 million if they received the $4 million in fedearl funding.

The foundation of the application was that if such a connector trail is constructed, there will be significant economic development in the area as a result. Officials cited the many economic expansions that have already occurred along the existing RRVTand the newer High Trestle Trail. Dallas County Conservation’s application for the federal fundshas beensupported by the Dallas County Board of Supervisors, the City of Perry, the Raccoon River Valley Trail Association and other entities. It received more than 130 letters of support from organizations, agencies, businesses and individuals from across the region.

Going into thespecifics of the proposal,the portion of the connector trail between Perry and Bouton would be built in conjunction with the paving of what is now a gravel road between those two towns. Perry is located at what could be described as the northeast “corner” of the Raccoon River Valley Trail, which will be 89 miles long once a new “north loop” is completed later this year. From Bouton, the connector trail would be built on the right-of-way of an already-paved county road that goes on east from Bouton to Woodward. The town of Woodward is the west trailhead of the High Trestle Trail, which is 25 miles long, stretches to Ankeny and includes the 13-story-high trestle bridge between Woodward and Madrid. The trail would be built in the rights-of-way of both roads, but not on the shoulders right next to the road surface. Rather, the trail’s path was gong to be on the sides of ditches or on fencelines, so there would be separation between the paved road and the paved trail. READ MORE

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Comments (5)  

Is it going to be another trail that puts cyclists and cars into conflict by adding an extra 26 stop signs and crossing hundreds of driveways and intersections? This is stupid. Why invest 5 million dollars on a trail having a newly paved road with plenty of room for a bike lane? It seems like the more trails we build the more I feel caged in.

#5 - borasam posted Jul 11, 2012

The gravel can be rough and dusty I rode on it yesterday but lucked out I only got dusted once. Dallas Co is a little late they should have snapped up that right of way in the seventies. Look at the gravel mile from 169 to Bouton, they could have used it to re-route the road but they did nothing. A friend of mine owned that stretch and he would have sold it to the county if they would have asked, but now his step son built a house on it

#4 - clunker posted Jul 9, 2012

I would still work on the fundraising aspects of this. It's possible that having money in the bank will help with approval.

#3 - sfuller posted Jul 8, 2012

Bummer. But the gravel is not bad. The important connection is from the RRVT to Jamaic to Dawson so bicycles can avoid 141

#2 - che posted Jul 8, 2012

dislike

#1 - solsen300 posted Jul 7, 2012

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