Iolans will have easier access to the Prairie Spirit Trail if a grant proposal is successful. SCHINSTOCK hopes before long Iola will have the wherewithal to extend the trail to the southeast corner of Riverside Park and construct a simple walking path atop the levee that rings the park.
Corey Schinstock, assistant city administrator, told the Register he would have application for a Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks and Tourism grant ready for city council members to review Monday evening.
The project would create a 10-foot-wide concrete walking and biking path east from the bike path near Utley’s Iola Auto Body over to Cottonwood Street and skirting Coon Creek.
“Wildlife and parks has $2 million available for grants,” Schinstock said.
Iola will seek $230,000.
Total project cost, from what Schinstock said was a “rough estimate,” would be $287,500. Iola would pay 20 percent, or about $60,000, as well as engineering costs, 8 to 10 percent of project cost.
Allen County commissioners Tuesday morning approved a letter of support for the project.
The city owns most of the old street and railroad rights of way, “all but a little next to Utley’s (Auto Body),” Schinstock said. “I’ve talked to Larry Utley and I don’t think that would be a problem.”
“The thing about the proposed trail is it connects to a large residential part of the city,” Schinstock said. “If we can get it done for 20 percent of total cost it would be hard to pass up.”
The Prairie Spirit Trail officially starts at the northeast corner of Riverside Park and runs through town and on north past or through Carlyle, Colony, Welda, Garnett and into Ottawa, a distance of more than 50 miles. It is open to walkers, joggers and bikers, but no motorized vehicles other than those for the handicapped.
Volunteers are working on extension of the trail from the south edge of Iola to Humboldt. Much undergrowth has been cleared, with about two more days of clearing work remaining. Yet to be done is construction of railings for the old railroad bridge over Elm Creek.
Also, more work awaits on the trail and its surface, which will be graded and covered with limestone screenings. A rest stop is planned about half way between Iola and Humboldt.
Addition to trail proposed
