(Des Moines)– The Iowa Economic Development Authority announced today (Fri.) a $500,000 CAT, or Community, Attraction and Tourism Grant, has been awarded for a project to connect recreational trails and Clay and Dickinson counties. Erin Reed of Dickinson County Trails says they’re thrilled with the announcement…
“We have been going after several grants for the Clay county connection and this one actually covers two phases for a total of three and-a-half miles and it adds to what we’ve been going after for funding and it’s getting us to almost $1.5 million for those two phases of the project and it just pushes us forward to getting to the third phase which will be that final mile that will connect us to Clay county.”
The 3.5 mile connector trail has a total estimated cost of just over $2.5 million dollars. Reed says construction on the first phase will begin soon…
“We’re starting in the middle of the month next month with the first mile and-a-half, phase one, and then we’re getting close to being completed with design on phase two and the hope is that we can get started on that late summer or early fall and through that just roll right into 2026 with the last mile and hopefully get it done next year.”
Reed adds landing the CAT grant was important in the wider scheme of things…
“Getting connected with Clay county is obviously a big deal for the region. You connect really essentially three counties and two states when you consider us going up into Minnesota with the Loon Lake Trail connected there and then between here and Clay county you’re connecting eight municipalities and so locally it’s a big deal for all of us up here in northwest Iowa, and then you expand further out and go with the Iowa Great Lakes Connection Trail that connects five counties going south to Carroll, Iowa, and hopefully in the future ultimately to Des Moines.”
Reed says now the focus will turn to securing funding for the 3rd and final phase of the Clay County Connection Trail.
