HAMPTON — The Franklin County portion of the Rolling Prairie Trail should be completed by this time next year.

Jason Gooder, Franklin County Conservation Board director, said the board recently received a $151,977 Transportation Alternatives Program grant through the North Iowa Area Council Governments to continue the project to the Butler County line. The trail follows an old Union Pacific railroad bed.

The Coulter to Hampton aspect of the trail was completed last fall. It includes 3/8 inch cover aggregate surfaces until west of Hampton and then pavement with trail spurs to the Hampton Aquatic Center, Hampton-Dumont Middle School and Franklin Wellness Center.

The Hampton to Butler County portion of the trail will include 3/8-inch cover aggregate surfaces, too, Gooder said.

The grant money will be used for work on two bridges between Hampton and the Butler County line, Gooder said. One bridge is 200 feet long and another is 100 feet long.

Gooder said both bridges are structurally sound; however, the board is going to place prefabricated retrofitted structures on top of the bridges to make them wide enough for a snowmobile trail groomer.

“The bridges should be ready to go by early next summer,” Gooder said, which means the 4.5 mile portion of the trail from Hampton to Hansell should be done then, too.

He said the last 3.5 miles to the Butler County line should then be completed by this time next year.

How the trail progresses from there would be up to Butler County, Gooder said.

It’s expected to eventually go through Dumont and Bristow and connect with the existing 15-mile Rolling Prairie Trail that runs from Allison to Clarksville to Shell Rock. Once completed, the trail would be 32 miles from Coulter to Allison.

Gooder said the board also applied for a Resource Enhancement and Protection Act (REAP) grant, but will not know if it received the grant for at least a couple of weeks.