The addition of a Main Street connection for the Sauk Rail Trail was again a hot topic of conversation at Monday night’s Carroll City Council meeting. Three different options were prepared by Shive Hattery for consideration, the first of which would use painted arrows for navigation in conjunction with a short section of a 10-foot wide trail to Bluff Street at a cost of $60,000. The other two options would bring the connector to N. Whitney Street and on north and would include larger sections of concrete off-road trails along Third Street. The major difference between the two would be where the trail stops. The cost estimates for those two options put one at over $239,000 and the other at just over $275,000. Some members of the public in attendance didn’t see the need to spend so much on the connector. Phil Phillips said the money could be better used on other parts of the trail system.
Others, including Tom Farner, said it was a lot of money, but it should be spent now on doing the entire project while Third Street construction will remove trees and existing concrete and costs can be shared to expand those sidewalks that will need to be replaced.
Supervisor Carolyn Siemann said she believed that the connection needs to be totally off road for safety and additional use.
Councilman Mike Kots suggested that the council look at placing the arrows on Whitney to see if it is a viable solution. If not, they could create an off-road trail section at a later date. Brandon Vonnahme said he doesn’t think they should be looking at this project from a singular perspective. He sees the segments outside the city limits used more for cycling, running and other forms of physical fitness types of activities, while the in-town segments are used by families and other community residents who want to navigate to different spots around town. In the end, the council has asked that Shive Hattery create estimates with all options discussed, even to include the use of painted arrows on the roadways for the entire connection section. Parks and Recreation Director, Jack Wardell, said he believed that it would take approximately three weeks for them to work up all options and get them back to the council for review. A description of the original estimates can be found below.
