(Milford)– Construction of a recreational trail coming north out of Clay county has reached the Dickinson county line. Now, Erin Reed of the Dickinson County Trails Board says construction is about to get underway on the Dickinson county portion of the trail going south out of Milford…
“The first leg is a mile and-a-half and we’ll get started on that in May. And then with the state Rec Trails Grant that we got at the end of the year, we’re fairly well along with the design for that two mile middle section and that one will probably go later in the season. We’re just wrapping up the engineering on that and then hopefully get that just rolled right over into the next project later in the summer.”
Reed says they’re also moving ahead with the easterly extension of the Tatanka Ska Trace Trail along former railroad right-of-way from Orleans to near Superior. She says some preliminary work is already going on with that…
“So we’ve got a contractor out there clearing the trees so that we can prepared for construction. Part of that really helps the surveyors because so much of that is so overgrown that you can’t even walk through it so it gives us the opportunity easier for the design stage and also we’re doing some minor grading here in the spring. That will allow for mountain bikes and fat tire bikes and you can also just go out for a walk and enjoy it too, so.”
Reed says discussions are underway on what to do with some abandoned rail cars in that area…
“We’ve been in contact with the previous owner, the railroad owner. He wants to get them out of there as well but he was hoping to get them reused but this contact that I’m working with has history with railroads and rail cars where to go with these things, so we’re getting close.”
Reed says they’ve secured $672,000 in funding for that project, known as Tatanka Ska Trace Phase V. She says any paving of that segment probably won’t occur for another year or two yet…
“The first year funding we have on that segment, I think it’s one point six miles, we do have funding for paving that so this is getting a step ahead of it, and so we’re looking at probably 2026, 2027. It kind of depends on how we get through Clay county, getting that connection done because that’s obviously a huge priority now that Clay county has gotten up to our county line.”
Reed says some smaller projects are in the planning stages right now. They include a trail in West Okoboji to Terrace Park Boulevard from Jeppeson Road; a loop around a wetland on the north side of the Pearson Lakes Art Center, which will be constructed before this coming 4th of July; and a two mile extension of a trail on the northeast side of Big Spirit Lake through the Angler’s Bay area. She says plans are also in the works to extend a trail west of Lake Park and south to connect with a loop around Silver Lake.
Reed says improvements to the trailhead at 13th Street in Milford are also in the planning stages. Various maintenance projects are also planned for the upcoming season.
