Bluffs council to vote trail work

COUNCIL BLUFFS — The heavily used trail that stretches from the Iowa School for the Deaf to the Bob Kerrey Pedestrian Bridge will get a half-million dollar face-lift courtesy of the federal economic stimulus package.

The Bluffs City Council will be asked Monday to approve the money and the project's design. With council approval, construction could start next spring, said Bluffs Parks Director Larry Foster.

There were 128 applications for trail projects in Iowa, Foster said, and only eight were awarded. “So that says something for the quality of this project,” he said.

One of the criteria for receiving money, he said, was the statewide significance a project could offer. Foster noted that the targeted trail is used by many to reach the Wabash Trace Nature Trail, which stretches to the Missouri state line. And, of course, the pedestrian bridge connects two states.

Foster said $543,866 in federal American Recovery and Reinvestment Act money has been awarded for the project, which has an engineer's estimated cost of $523,796.

The actual work will cover 7.7 miles, Foster said. About 1.5 miles of that stretch will have total surface replacement with new concrete, while surface cracks elsewhere will be patched with asphalt.

Then an asphalt seal coating will be applied to the entire surface to extend the trail's life, Foster said.

The affected trails connect the Bluffs trailhead of the Wabash Trace (near the Iowa School for the Deaf) with the Iowa Riverfront Trail, which in turn links to the new pedestrian bridge over the Missouri River.

“The trail is not completely falling apart today, but this work will ensure it will remain in place for many years to come,” Foster said.

On a related matter, Foster said work began this week on construction of a trail along North 13th Street that will provide more convenient access from the Avenue G viaduct to the Broadway skateboard park. That should be done next summer, he added.