Johnston Residents Urge Council to Eliminate Trails to Nowhere

Trails that don't link up to other trails in Johnston and the metro are frustrating local residents. That will change in the coming months.

The Des Moines Register reports that at the July 1 Johnston City Council meeting members approved a contract for engineering and design work for a section of trail that will connect the Green Meadows West development to Northwest 62nd Avenue.

Once the council approves the design, likely in September, construction bids will be sent out, Parks Director John Schmitz said. The project is expected to cost $121,090, the Register said.

The current trail in Green Meadows West comes to a dead end, he told the newspaper, which is ineffective for recreational users and residents who use the trails as a second route for transportation.

City leaders plan to start work on two trail projects next spring, including a trail that will run north along Northwest Beaver Drive to connect with the Neal Smith Trail. The land for the trail is being surveyed, Schmitz told the Register. Another trail project will begin next year at Terra Park.