Rodeo park trail rehab in front of city board

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BY CHUCK VANDENBERG

PCC EDITOR

FORT MADISON - A $100,000 rehab of approximately 600 feet of trail at the city's Rodeo Park will be in front of a city board on Wednesday.

According to Dawn Helling, the city's secretary for the Fort Madison Public Works and Parks departments, the work should begin in the summer next year.

The project is actually being called a rehab because there is a rough, overgrown path that has been used by vehicles for years and is overgrown.

The park board approved the project years ago, but the Southeast Iowa Regional Planning Commission didn't get on board with the project until Public Works director Larry Driscoll came on board several years ago and took it back to them.

"This started with Steve Hayes before Larry came along, but Larry brought it back to the SEIRPC and they approved handling the project. We submitted all the paperwork to the DOT in June and the bid letting will take place May 15," Helling said.

"I would think the project would start shortly after that."

The project has a $102,544 price tag and a Federal Transportation Alternatives Program, or T.A.P., grant is picking up $82,035 of the bill. The rest will come from city funds.

Helling said the project will asphalt and widen the current pathway and provide measures for erosion control. The path runs in the form of a triangle about 600 feet and is located on the southwest corner of the rodeo arena grounds, runs southwest along the eastern edge just past the Saddle Club arena and then turns sharply and heads directly north about 500 feet and then turns east to the original starting point of the rehab project.

Helling said the city council wouldn't need to approve the project since it's already gone through that process. She said the Park Board will be just receiving an update on the project with new dates and information.

"Right now we're still in the engineering process. We have certain deadlines we have to meet as part of the grant process and some dates have already been extended," she said.

The pink triangle in the map of Rodeo park above shows where a rough overgrown path will be overlayed with asphalt and widened next summer.

 

 

city funds, DOT grants, fort madison, Park Board, Pen City Current, Rodeo Park, Trails

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