(Milford)– The Milford City Council Monday evening heard an update from Erin Reed of Dickinson County trails. Reed gave an update on the trail connecting Clay and Dickinson counties. Plans call for that trail to cross Highway 71 at the bottom of the hill just south of Milford. However Reed says they’re now open to discussions with the city on other options, but for now she says the emphasis is on getting the trail itself done…
“So once we get the trail complete we’ll be looking at ideas for possibly a tunnel going under Highway 71. We’ve had some discussions with the D.O.T about doing that. Funding is obviously going to be the big challenge there. It’s not an easy project to get through but terrain allows for it so we’re looking at that as a possibility. Also we’ve had discussions with the city about just going straight north on the west side at 230th and then going into downtown, so partnering with them on a project for that.”
Reed told the city council the estimated cost of putting a tunnel under Highway 71 has been put at roughly $1.5 million. Councilman Shane Hoffman said he’d like to see the crossing moved to 6th Street instead. Reed indicated that option is also on the table adding a primary goal is to bring more people to the downtown area.
Meanwhile, Reed says construction of the third and final phase of the Clay County Connector Trail is being pushed back a bit…
“Right of way is a little tight down there on that south mile so we’re working with the landowner there and also there’s some power poles that are in our way right now but they’re planning on moving them next fall, this coming fall, and once we get those out of the way that will really improve the situation for us, so. We’ll probably wait until 2027, the spring of, to get that project going.”
Reed also informed the council of plans to revamp the trail head at 13th Street in Milford…
“Yeah, we’re excited to be partnering with a private donor who wanted to see some improvements there so we’ll be doing some trail realignment, doing some reconfiguration of the parking area, new picnic table, benches and information kiosk, opening it up, you know, clear out some of the brush and then do some ornamental plantings, low maintenance ornamental plantings and that, so. Really want to open it up and get it more visible and just more pleasant for people to use that trailhead because it’s quite popular. It gets used a lot. What’s the timeframe for that, then? Well we’re having a project letting next month and so we’ll probably be looking by the end of June I think is the completion date for that one.”
Meanwhile, trail usage only continues to increase. Reed says the count for this past season was more than 420,000.
