Trail Supporters Raising Money for Public Art Piece at Waukee Trailhead

Should the Waukee City Council give $10,000 to a group working to create a public art piece for the city’s new trailhead?

That request will be discussed by the council at its March 4 meeting.

Jim Miller, a board member of the Raccoon River Valley Trail Association, said at last week's council meeting that the group has raised about $15,000 from businesses, the Des Moines Register reports. The group has asked the council to allocate $10,000 for the design phase of the project, which will likely cost $35,000 total.

Waukee’s trailhead at the intersection of 10th Street and Hickman Road opened in October.

Miller said at a November Waukee council meeting that a distinguishing piece of public art would link Waukee with the 89-mile paved trail. The group envisions a proj­ect that could cost about $250,000 to build, the newspaper said.

The city money would enable artist David Dahlquist of RDG Planning and Design to begin working with community members on a design concept. Dahlquist helped design the High Trestle Trail bridge in Woodward, the Register reported.

The artwork would be owned by the city of Waukee.

More About the Trail

The first section of the Raccoon River Valley Trail opened on Oct. 7, 1989, with a 34-mile route completed in 1990 from Waukee to Yale, according to the city website. A 12-mile addition from Jefferson south to Herndon was completed in 1997. In 1999, a five-mile extension was completed east from Waukee to connect with the Green Belt Trail in the Des Moines suburb of Clive, and another five miles of trail was completed to link Herndon and Yale in northern Guthrie County.

In 2001, the Iowa Natural Heritage Foundation helped the counties' Conservation Boards complete the purchase of the right-of-way. The purchase was made possible by an Iowa Trails Grant from the Iowa Department of Transportation.

The former railroad right-of-way on which the 33-mile "North Loop" of the RRVT is being constructed, was purchased in late 2007 from the Union Pacific Railroad. It runs northwest from Waukee through Dallas Center and Minburn to Perry, then swings west through Dawson and Jamaica before it intersects again with the RRVT in the unincorporated town of Herndon. 

Bicyclists, joggers, walkers, skaters, campers, cross-country skiers, birdwatchers, hunters, fishermen, naturalists and snowmobilers all use the trail, or at least those portions of the trail that are opened to specific uses.