(Le Mars) — During its Tuesday meeting, the Le Mars city council approved the contract bid of $1.53 million dollars for the start of construction on the Plywood Trail Phase 1-A, which will begin at Merrill and head towards Le Mars. Ultimately, the Plywood Trail when completed will provide a recreational trail that will stretch from Le Mars to Sioux City and connect Merrill and Hinton. Brett Langley is the project manager with McClure Engineering firm based in Sioux City and assigned the task to oversee the supervision of the proposed Plywood Recreational Trail. Langley talks about the portion of the trail that will begin construction.
Many people are still wondering where specifically will the Plywood Trail be located? Langley says most of the trail will run parallel to Highway 75 on the west side of the highway.
Langley says the trail will be built on the Iowa D-O-T’s Right-of-way. He says the trail will be approximately 30 feet away from the shoulder of the highway.
The intersection of County Road C-38 and Highway 75, commonly referred to as NIPCO corner has proven at times to be a dangerous intersection with a few auto accidents and even fatalities occurring at the intersection. Langley admits it may be a tight squeeze in terms of space for bicycles at that intersection.
The McClure Engineering Company official says the first portion of the trail will cost approximately $1.53 million dollars. He offers an estimate to the total projected cost of the Plywood Trail project from Le Mars to Sioux City.
Langley says the project hopes to be financed through private donations, along with state and federal grants.
Since the trail will be part of the highway’s right-of-way, Langley says landowner approval is not necessarily needed.
Langley says construction is to be started no later than April 15th of 2022. However, he says it could be started earlier. Godberson-Smith Company of Ida Grove was awarded the contract. The completion of Phase 1-A is to be done within 60 days after the construction project begins.
