The state Transportation Commission approved three-million dollars in trail projects at its meeting Tuesday in Muscatine. Steven Bowman of the Iowa Department of Transportation, say five of the projects were earmarked by the state legislature for funding — including $750,000 for the Principal Riverwalk project in Des Moines.
Bowman says the project is a trail and two-story kiosk with restrooms and a public area that he says is a "work in progress" that they are looking to complete. Another earmarked project is the Maquoketa River Water Trail in Jones County that’s getting $100,000. He says that entails development along the river along with trail work, parking facilities and other amenities.
The remaining earmarked awards are: $100,000 for the Summerset Trail for Indianola, Carlilse and Des Moines; $30,000 for the Crawford County Trail; $100,000 for the Stone State Park Trail in Woodbury County for development of a off highway trail from the Milwaukee Road Railroad Historical facility to Stone State Park.
The largest award is for $800,000 to join two trails in central Iowa. Bowman says the money will complete a 2.9 mile gap between the Linn Creek Trail in Marshalltown to the Iowa 330 trail in Marshall County. Once that is completed, it will create a 17-and-a-half mile trail in southwest Marshall County.
Other projects include: The American Gothic Regional Trail Project, which received $100,000 in funding; The Mississippi River Trail is getting just over $351,000 for the Liberty Avenue connection in Clinton; The Trout Run Trail in Decorah is getting $138,000 to reconstruct a historic bowstring arch bridge in tandem with a new box-truss bridge to span a stream and connect two segments of the trail.