ARRA Funds To Pay For Trail Paving

Dollars from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) will fund the paving of two portions of the Wabash Trace Nature Trail in Mills County.

Joe Foreman

Connie Coltrane (left) and Margaret Hobza of Papillion, Neb., enjoy a Sunday afternoon ride on the Wabash Trace nature trail in Mills County.

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The Iowa Transportation Commission announced earlier this month that $456,134 of ARRA funds have been awarded to the Iowa Natural Heritage Foundation to pay for paving on the Wabash Trace - one section near Silver City and another section near Malvern. The Wabash Trace paving in Mills County is among several “transit and transportation enhancement” projects across the state approved for ARRA funding. The projects carry a cumulative price tag of $30.9 million.

In addition to the project in Mills County, the city of Council Bluffs received $543,866 for trail rehabilitation between the Wabash Trace trailhead and the new Bob Kerrey Pedestrian Bridge that crosses the Missouri River between Council Bluffs and Omaha.

The 63-mile Wabash Trace runs from Council Bluffs to Blanchard, Mo., passing through portions of Pottawattamie, Mills, Fremont and Page Counties in southwest Iowa. The majority of the trail surface is made from crushed limestone. Iowa Department of Transportation planner Craig Markley said the sections of trail planned for resurfacing in Mills County will be made of a hard surface, most likely concrete. The resurfacing work isn’t expected to take place for several months, Markley said, possibly not until the spring of 2010.