Linn County plans to purchase land from Alliant Energy
What once served as an early 20th century trolley line from Cedar Rapids to Mount Vernon may eventually become what project leaders envision as an “interurban trail.”
Alliant Energy has owned the roughly 13-mile corridor in recent years, and Linn County supervisors recently approved a memorandum of understanding to purchase the property for $309,000, with the intention of constructing a trail from Bever Park in Cedar Rapids to the Mount Vernon and Lisbon areas.
Government and economic development leaders are “trying to lure different businesses here, help businesses that are here develop and build all kinds of incentives to try to bring in workforce for various economic development projects,” said Linn County Supervisor Brent Oleson. “But there wasn’t a ton of focus really on when you get here and you want to raise a family, you want things to do recreationally. It was siloed or was disconnected.”
The trail would most likely run along the old trolley line, which is intersected by a few city streets, and could be diverted onto county roads at times.