Des Moines is poised to fill a gap in its trail system, linking it to two southeast neighbors with a trail named for RAGBRAI's founders.
City Council members on Monday approved plans and awarded a construction bid for a $3.9 million paved connection from the Easter Lake Spine Trail in Des Moines to the City of Carlisle Nature Trail. The segment of the trail will be named for late Des Moines Register staffers John Karras and Don Kaul, who a city resolution bestowing the honor said were "collectively instrumental in initiating and promoting the Register's Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa."
City Parks and Recreation Director Ben Page said the trail is one of the last missing segments of the wider central Iowa trail network. By connecting to Carlisle, it also will link the system to Indianola via the existing Summerset Trail between the two cities.