|Paths and trails will connect north and south Ames

By By Ben Bramsen

Daily Staff Writer<</p>

Ames travelers may be able to get around a little easier after the city completes construction on recreational paths and bike trails this summer.

One major trail under construction is the Skunk River Trail. When completed, the trail will stretch from the Hunziker Youth Sports Complex on the southeast side of town to the new Ada Hayden Heritage Park on the north side.

The part of the trail currently under construction and scheduled to be completed this summer will stretch from Inis Grove Park to Carr Pool and Park.

Although construction is going smoothly now, the entire process will not be easy, said Kevin Shawgo, Ames parks superintendent.

“Some of the areas we want to work on are not city property, so we’ll have to obtain some easements on those parts of land,” Shawgo said.

Landowners grant easements so that others can have limited usage privileges on the landowner’s property.

One part of that land is the area from Inis Grove Park up to Bloomington Road. Shawgo said the trail construction will be a long-term project. It was originally a five-year plan starting five years ago, but now it’s slated for at least another five years, finishing in the 2008-09 fiscal year.

“It started five years ago, and what happens is we pick a part to be worked on each year, and the city council votes on each individual year’s budget, although they have the full plan in mind while voting,” Shawgo said.

Although the paths and trails are planned to connect some major parts of the city, Shawgo said there was another reason that some of the areas were chosen to be built on.

“Some of the land we’ve chosen was picked because other things can’t be developed there because of the flood plains,” Shawgo said.

Another trail in development will be one that connects the ISU campus to the Hunziker Youth Sports Complex. Although ISU property is not owned by the city, Shawgo said the city was granted a 10-foot land easement to develop a path on part of the property.

This year’s Skunk River Trail development has a proposed cost of $80,000, the same as next year’s proposed development for the section from Carr Pool and Park to 13th Street.