Supervisors approve use of right away to build trail

Dodge County supervisors again gave Fremont officials approval to use the county’s rights of way to build a bike trail along Ridge Road, a section that has been held up for three years.

With a resolution approved Wednesday morning by members of the Dodge County Board of Supervisors, the latest leg of a city trail is expected to be finished in the fall, said Fremont Department of Public Works director Clark Boschult.

The project was held up for three years because Union Pacific Railroad Co. required “a very high amount of coverage,” said Fremont administrative services director Jan Rise. But city officials were able to negotiate with railroad officials to lower the insurance requirement amount to a manageable level for a city the size of Fremont.

Boschult confirmed that the approval to use the county’s rights of way was the final hurdle before construction of the new bicycle/walking trail could begin.

The county had given its approval for the project three-years ago when the insurance issue caused a glitch, he said. But because rights of way regulations have changed over that time a new resolution from Dodge County officials was needed.

The trail will connect with the existing bicycle/walking trail on the west side of the city at the corner of Linden Avenue and Ridge Road. From there, the trail travels to Airport Road before turning north across West 23rd Street into Washington Heights.

The new leg of the trail will start where the current trail ends at Linden Avenue and Ridge Road, travel south past Military Avenue, cross the railroad tracks and turn west toward Fremont Lakes State Recreation Area.

Boschult told supervisors that a pedestrian light will be placed on Military Avenue to help walkers, joggers and bicyclists get across the busy highway safer.

“But the pedestrian light on Military Avenue won’t help with traffic problems at this time,” he said, adding the reconstruction of West Military Avenue is part of a viaduct project Fremont voters approved earlier this year.

This leg of the trail will be about a mile long, he said. Construction will likely start in late summer or early fall and take about two months to build. It will cost about $350,000, but the city is only responsible for $70,000 of that cost. The rest will come from federal and state sources.

Rise said this project is long overdue.

“This is a well-traveled route,” she said. “It will be much safer. The trail will make access to the State Lakes safer for bicyclists and walkers. This was a great example of public-private partnership. Safety is a big issue for the railroad as well as with the city.”

“This is great,” Hartwig said of getting over the last hurdle in the project. “A lot of people want this done. I’ve heard a lot of questions about this over the past few months. People are really excited about having that trail available.”