Amana Kolonieweg Trail extension opening next week

MODIFIED 11/5/10 IN 6TH PARAGRAPH TO INDICATE SURFACE IS CONCRETE, NOT ASPHALT. OTHER MINOR CHANGES THROUGHOUT.

The extension of the 3.2-mile Amana Kolonieweg Trail opening this month will be more than a recreational amenity, according to supporters.

The one mile-plus project known simply as "the trail extension" since work began on it seven years ago will be used by students bicycling to school, and by residents of residential care and retirement communities hoofing it to shops and restaurants.

"This is as much a transportation project as it is a green trail for recreational uses," said Emilie Hoppe, secretary of the nonprofit Amana Colonies Trails group that launched the project with a grant application seven years ago.

The new recreational path extension will provide the first direct path for non-motorized vehicles from the historic village of Middle Amana to the historic village of Amana. It crosses farmland and meadows, skirting the north side of the iconic Lilly Pond.

Hoppe said the trail connects residents and visitors not only with historic business districts, but with schools, tennis courts and soccer fields.  Trail users can begin at the Amana Woolen Mill past Casey's General Store, the banks, the Amana Clinic and PHarmacy, Coloial Manor, the Amana school and the Amana library to the west side of Middle Amana.

The concrete surface is all down, and mulching of the areas that were disturbed by the trail work was just being completed this week.

A donation of virtually all of the land needed for the project by the Amana Society provided in-kind match needed to obtain a roughly $239,000 grant through the Iowa Department of Transportation and simplified the project. Coming up with nearly $60,000 in local match during a recession and the immense demand for assistance caused by the 2008 floods wasn't easy, Hoppe added.

"This was a totally grassroots effort," Hoppe said. She praise volunteers, businesses, Amana Society and Iowa County officials,  who supported the project, and Shoemaker and Haaland Professional Engineers of Coralville, which designed the trail.

The Iowa Department of Transportation approved the grant using federal funds over five years ago, but it took years to get the funds released as  issues such as the most desirable location for the trail were hashed out between the trail supporters and the DOT.

Hoppe said the Amana Colonies Trails will next turn its attention to getting an engineering study for a project to extend the trail system south to another colony, Homestead. She said the group's long-term vision is to have the Amana Kolonieweg Trail link up with Johnson County's trail system, which now extends almost all of the way to Oxford.

With the extension, the trail system is now about five miles long. Hoppe said she expects the trail to be open for use within the next week.

Installation of a paving bricks to recognize donors, grass seeding and tree plantings will be completed next spring.