Bike trail bridge

Old abandoned bridge that may be moved to be used on a bike trail.

http://www.capjournal.com/articles/2009/07/27/news/doc4a6e959355608785239326.txt

By Jeff Bunn
Capital Journal staff
Published/Last Modified on Tuesday, Jul 28, 2009 - 01:11:47 am CDT
PIERRE — Dont call the 80-year-old bridge for the bike path a bridge to nowhere.

Last week, those with the state historic office granted permission to city officials to move the bridge in rural Hughes County to Mickelson Pond as part of the first phase of citys bike path project.

Its a bridge we found here a few months ago, said Leon Schochenmaier, city administrator. Its a historic bridge. We are now designing a bridge abutment and approaches.
Funding for the first phase has been secured — with $500,000 allotted to the city by the state Department of Transportation, $125,000 in matching dollars and $80,000 from South Dakota Game, Fish and Parks. Schochenmaier said designing is nearly complete.

The first phase of the bike project will create a trail from Governors Drive to Fourth Street going over Mickelson Pond. From there, the trail cuts up to Bristol Place.

Tom Farnsworth, park and recreation director for the city, said the entire bike path project is important but especially meaningful for those around Bristol Place, a relatively new residential area of town.

This project is definitely a benefit to our community, said Farnsworth. Its important to connect different residential sections of our community with trails like this to the main population base. This trail will do that.

Phase two of the project received $250,000 in stimulus funding earlier this year. It will provide a trail from Bristol Place to Garfield Avenue. That segment is set to be designed in the fall, according to Schochenmaier.

One hurtle for the first phase of the project was securing easements from property owners around the future trail. The final three of those easements were secured last week. Planning of the path began in 2006, and Farnsworth said the bridge does more than allow pedestrians to go over approximately 120 feet of water.

The bridge will really be an assist in not only providing a nice location at the pond, but then the fishing opportunities for children and adults should be greatly enhanced, he said. We know that pond is deep enough to support various species of fish, and were really pleased to work with Game, Fish and Parks and other entities on that type of project.

Category:

Entertainment

Tags:

• Bike
• trail
• bridge
• Pierre
• SD
• Blunt
• South
• Dakota
• abandoned

[swany53]

The music was the free stuff that came with the video editing software. Camera was on a small tripod on the dash of my Vibe.

[starlite528]

Nice music! I like how smooth the video is, great suspension in the vehicle, lol!