Wapsi walking bridge in Central City slated for 2010 construction

Construction should begin in 2010 on a pedestrian bridge over the Wapsipinicon River at Pinicon Ridge Park in Central City.

The bridge will connect the campground off Valley Farm Road east of the river to the boat rental area near the foot of Woodpecker Hill on the river's west bank.

The state legislature appropriated $500,000 in funding for the project in April in honor of late Marion senator Mary Lundby, and the money passed through the Iowa Transportation Commission this week.

The bridge will cost about $1.2 million, said Randy Burke, a Linn County Conservation planner. The remaining cost will be covered by local option sales tax revenue. The Linn County supervisors decided to spend 10 percent of the county's sales tax revenue on conservation projects over the next four years. Voters approved the tax March 3.

Construction will begin “late summer or early fall of 2010,” Burke said. “We're just in the process of hiring an engineering firm right now.”

Though a suspension bridge will probably be too expensive, the county would like to build “something that's dramatic,” Burke said.

The Iowa Transportation Commission also passed through funding for 12 other trail projects, including $750,000 for the Allamakee County Mississippi River bike trail in northeast Iowa.