‘Missing link’ in DOT’s $5.5M recommendation for 12 recreational trail projects

The Iowa Department of Transportation made its recommendations on Tuesday to award $5.5 million in grants for 12 recreational trail projects, including preliminary work on a so called 'missing link” that would connect approximately 200 miles of trails in Eastern Iowa.

The link in question - part of the Hoover Nature Trail in northern Johnson County - is a six mile connection through prairie, woods and along buffered sections of road between Solon and Ely.

When complete, after years of discussion, the path will run from Iowa City all the way to Cedar Falls.

'It's exciting to think about getting on a trail in Iowa City and ride all the way to Cedar Falls and Waterloo,” said Larry Gullett, the executive director of Johnson County Conservation Board, which applied for the grant. We are really excited because people have been talking about completing this missing link for over 20 years.”

The Iowa Transportation Commission heard the recommendations during its monthly meeting in Ames on Tuesday. The commission will consider formal approval of the 12 projects at the October meeting.

Also at the meeting, the commission approved $4.6 million for the fiscal 2015 State Aviation Program, $2.4 million for aviation safety, planning and airport development projects at 21 airports throughout Iowa, and $2.3 million for projects at nine general aviation airports and eight commercial service airports throughout Iowa.

The budget includes work $317,297 toward a $10.4 million project to renovate the terminal building at the Cedar Rapids airport. Work is also slated for airports in Iowa City, Waterloo, Washington, Maquoketa and Manchester, among others.

The commission didn't comment on any of the trail recommendations.

The award for the 'missing link” project would be a $454,000 grant that would cover 75 percent of costs for preliminary design, engineering, environmental and cultural assessments, but not construction.

Gullett said the plan is to complete the preliminary work by the end of 2015 and go right into construction immediately following with a possible completion in summer 2016.

Gullett anticipates the project to around $3- to $3.5 million, largely paid for by grants and private fundraising, and he said he believed the money would be in place by the end of the design phase.

'That's really an aggressive time frame, but to us, there's no reason it can't be done,” Gullett said.

The Iowa DOT also recommended awarding $55,000 of a $75,000 mountain bike loop project in Squaw Creek County Park.

The Red Cedar Loop and Connector would create a single-track loop approximately 8,500 feet long and tied to existing park infrastructure.

Craig Markley, director of the DOT office of system planning, said the DOT received 56 applications seeking $27 million.

He said the projects are evaluated on a 125-point scoring criteria which considers factors such as expected usage, compatibility with other trail systems or plans and ability to complete the project.

One project - SW 5th (Jackson) Street Bridge Rehabilitation - is recommended to receive $500,000 through an earmarked historical trail bridge grant.

'It's a very good mixture,” Markley said. 'We have some projects that are preserving railroad right of way, some construction of bridges and some will be doing engineering work and design of a trail.”

The recommended projects include:

* Ankeny Connector - High Trestle Trail: $782,500

* Cedar Valley Nature Trail Bridge E4 Replacement: $160,906

* Coon Rapids Connector Trail Underpass: $224,437

* Great River Road Bike Lane: $340,000

* Hoover Trail - 'The Missing Link”: $454,000

* Iowa DNR AmeriCorps Trail Crew: $296,250

* Iowa River Trail Phase 1 Development: $775,000

* Lake Path Trail / JewEllsworth Trail Segment: $647,140

* Mississippi River Trail - Pikes Peak Road to Guttenberg: $579,074

* Pottawattamie County Trail-Phase I: $700,000

* Red Cedar Trail and Connector: $55,000

* SW 5th (Jackson) Street Bridge Rehabilitation: $500,000

l Comments: (319) 339-3177; brian.morelli@thegazette.com