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Upgrade set for bike path system
By Seth Tupper
The Daily Republic (South Dakota)
November 18, 2008
The city of Mitchell [South Dakota] is poised to make about $1 million worth of upgrades to its bike-path system over the next two years, Public Works Director Tim McGannon said Monday evening at City Hall.
“The city of Mitchell has approximately $600,000 in federal money, being matched by about $400,000 of city funds, beginning this year and ending in 2010,” McGannon said.
McGannon, along with other city staff and members of the city’s Bike Path Committee, updated the City Council on the status of various bike path projects. Upcoming work includes the posting of signs, the painting of crosswalks and the printing of 10,000 bike-path brochures; the installation of a historic bridge; and the construction of two new segments of bike path.
Bike Path Committee member Mark Puetz said an improved bike path system will help local companies and improve residents’ quality of life.
“People who are moving in for new jobs, they want to see what the outdoor availability is for activities,” he said. “Bike trails are an incredible asset for recruiting, and I think that’s what we’re all trying to push for is that quality of place.”
Funding sources for the signage, crosswalks and brochures include a $5,560 grant and a $7,500 donation from organizers of the annual Tour de Corn bicycling event. The goal of the work is to clearly mark existing trails and educate the public about the trails’ existence.
The historic bridge — a truss structure that was rescued from a rural county road — will be installed next to what’s known as the canal bridge near The Island residential development. The historic bridge will serve only pedestrians and cyclists. The project is expected to cost $122,200, with all but the city’s share of $22,057 covered by a grant.
One of the new bike-path segments that is scheduled to be constructed will start on the north side of the historic bridge and loop around part of Lake Mitchell to National Guard Road, where it will turn north to connect with the city’s new, 10-field soccer complex.
Another new segment of bike path will start from the end point of an existing path near the entrance to Lakeview Municipal Golf Course and stretch over to Ohlman Street, and then north up Ohlman to connect with an existing path near Indian Village Road.
The total cost of new paths is estimated to be $893,150.07, with grant funds covering $500,000 and the city covering the remaining $393,150.07.
The goal is to complete the work by 2010. Future plans include building a new segment of bike path that would start from an existing path along 23rd Avenue near its railroad intersection and stretch northwest along a city storm-sewer right-of-way through a rural area to the historic bridge. That proposed segment would provide a link from the soccer fields and the lake to the city proper.
There are pieces of privately owned land that must be acquired before the proposed rural segment could be built. McGannon said that if the land is acquired, a “primitive” trail could be built at low cost and upgraded later to asphalt or concrete.
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