Engineer Explains Plywood Trail Project
(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.
Iowa Part Of Lawsuit Against Google
(Des Moines, IA) — Iowa’s Attorney General has joined 37 of his counterparts in other states to file a lawsuit against Google. A-G Tom Miller’s spokesperson says they are alleging that Google has an unfair monopoly in the way their app store works in the android system. The states accuse Google of using its dominance to unfairly restrict competition with the Google Play Store, harming consumers by limiting choice and driving up app prices. The states are seeking to have Google open to competition within the Google Play App store and the Google pay system — and they are looking for refunds for customers.
Governor Asks For $222 Million Relief For City Governments
(Des Moines, IA) — Governor Kim Reynolds is requesting 222 million dollars in pandemic relief from the American Rescue Package that will allow 930 city governments to access federal funding. The funding is available starting today (Friday) with 111 million dollars available this fiscal year and an additional 111 million dollars available in the next fiscal year. Cities have 30 days to submit paperwork to the Iowa Department of Management to receive these federal funds. Cities will also have complete jurisdiction over how this money is spent following compliance with federal guidance and parameters.
New Billboard Seeks Information In Hisentruit Case
(Mason City, IA) — A group that continues to search for information in the disappearance of Mason City anchorwoman Jodi Huisentruit has put up a new billboard. The organization Find-Jodi put up the billboard which says “Don’t sit in silence, the time to talk is now.” The group has put up other billboards seeking out any information on Huisentruit. She was a morning news anchor for K–I-M-T T-V when she went missing on June 27th, 1995. Her belongings and a bent key were found in the parking lot outside her apartment building after she failed to show up to her shift.
Stratford Bluegrass Festival Returns
(Stratford, IA) — Another event that was canceled by the pandemic makes a return this weekend. The Stratford Stride Bluegrass Festival will feature seven bluegrass and old-time country music bands in the north-central Iowa town. Organizer April Carlson says she expects a big crowd after last year’s event was canceled. There is a parade on Saturday starting at 10:30 am and bands are scheduled to appear through Sunday.
