(Ames)—The Iowa Transportation Commission this (Tues.) morning awarded funding for two trails-related projects in Dickinson county.
One of them will allow for the extension of a sidewalk along a portion of Hill Avenue on the south side of Spirit Lake northward, connecting to an existing sidewalk near the schools. The grant of nearly $207,000 is coming through the D.O.T’s Safe Routes To School Program. Mayor Blaine Andera says the city is very excited by the news…(click here for comment.) “We’re so excited about this, it’s going to enable a safe route for the kids to get to school from the Southern Hills Development down there by our new water tower, and just with the amount of families that are moving in and have moved into that area, this is going to be fantastic for them.”
Andera says a timeframe in which the city plans to complete the project hasn’t been set yet…(click here for comment.) “We’re still in the process of finalizing plans on it and so on. This ties in wonderfully with the Blue Zones project in Spirit Lake, too, encouraging walkability and things along that line, so anything we can do to help number one, safety and number two, a little bit of exercise for our community, that’s fantastic.”
Another trails-related project, railbanking of the former Iowa Northwestern Railroad right-of-way between Ocheyedan and Superior was also awarded funding today (Tues.) by the commission. The Dickinson and Osceola County Conservation boards were awarded a total of nearly $306,000 for that project. Plans call for the former railroad right-of-way to eventually be converted into a recreational trail.
Funding for that grant was made available through the D.O.T’s recreational trail program.
