It could be years before the Riverfront Trail is completed, but a plan to build the final portion gained the City Council's approval Tuesday.
The city can now sign an agreement with the Nebraska Roads Department to design and build two concrete trails: one along Abbott Drive from north downtown to Carter Lake and a second leg to connect part of Carter Lake's north and western shores to a trail along Locust Street built by the City of Carter Lake. Both segments would create a total of roughly three additional trail miles.
The city estimates the total cost of the dual-trail project at $1.3 million. The city would have to pick up roughly $510,000 of the tab, leaving the rest to federal highway project funds.
Part of the project would complete a missing link in the decade-old Riverfront Trail and create a continuous link between downtown Omaha and the Washington County line.
"The importance for recreation for trail users is immense," said Dennis Bryers, the effort's project manager and a planner with the city's Parks and Recreation Department. "It'll make a nice connection and allow more people access to the trail."
But the federal dollars could delay the trail's construction by up to three years, Bryers said, largely because of new regulations imposed by the Federal Highway Administration to oversee funds it devotes to such projects.
"It'll just require more time," Bryers said.
Contact the writer: 402-444-1068, johnny.perez@owh.com, twitter.com/PerezJr
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