County Engineer will do design work for Freeport Trail

The Winneshiek County Board has unanimously approved a proposal to allow the County Engineer to design a proposed bike trail from Wal-Mart to Freeport.

The proposal was made by the Trails From Freeport group, which has raised $90,000 in contributions towards the project in just five months of fundraising.

TFF spokesperson Dale Putnam told county supervisors the segment of Old Stage Road from Wal-Mart to the Freeport Industrial Park is the most heavily-traveled county road in Winneshiek County, with nearly 9,000 vehicles per day.  Putnam told supervisors that building the trail "will provide safety to the people who use it."

County Engineer Lee Bjerke favored the proposal, saying there is a "pedestrian and vehicle conflict in this area."  Supervisor Dean Thompson also spoke in favor of the proposal, saying the current situation produces "accidents in waiting."

Under Monday's vote, Bjerke's department will design the portion of the proposed trail that will use county-owned right-of-way along Old Stage Road.  The trail will be built as a gravel trail at first, with fundraising and grant applications aimed at raising the balance of the $500,000 it is estimated a paved trail would cost for a trail from the end of Trout Run Trail to a park in Freeport.