Delays plague filling Poudre Trail gaps but city has new route to completion
The last time Fort Collins conducted a master trails plan, there was talk about extending the popular Poudre Trail to Timnath and Windsor.
That was 2013.
Fast forward to 2024.
The city is updating its Strategic Trails Plan, and though much closer than 11 years ago, the Poudre Trail has yet to connect Fort Collins to Timnath and Windsor.
By 2025, that is expected to change.
Here's a look at how you can help the city build its future trail system and suggest improvements to the existing one, as well as the timeline for completion of its current projects. That includes, after nearly 50 years, completing the Poudre Trail.
Here's how to have a voice in the city's trail system
The city's Strategic Trails Plan work is underway with a number of public input opportunities throughout 2024 with an expected completion and adoption by City Council in 2025.
Here are ways to get involved:
Attend the city's open house from 5 to 7 p.m. Monday, April 15 at the Northside Aztlan Community Center, 112 Willow St.
Visit the plan's webpage to review supplemental information and sign up to receive periodic project updates via email.
Take the the online questionnaire open through May 1 to share your input.
Share feedback and suggestions regarding specific trails, existing and proposed, through the plan's interactive online mapping tool.
Poudre Trail has a new proposed route to completion by 2025
Multiple delays have occurred in filling in the few gaps that remain to complete this 44-mile trail from Bellvue, west of Fort Collins, to Greeley.
The good news is funding has been secured through a $2 million Great Outdoors Colorado lottery money grant to complete the remaining gaps, which combined are less than 2 miles long. There is an urgency to complete the gaps by 2025 as that is the deadline, already extended once, to use the GOCO funding.
The bad news is construction on two of those segments has been delayed. But there is encouraging news regarding the third segment.
Construction on the city's section of the Poudre Trail from the Interstate 25 underpass west through Arapaho Bend Natural Area was set to begin this week.
That was until Colorado Parks and Wildlife discovered a bald eagle nest close enough to the project that it had to be delayed, according to Dave "DK" Kemp, senior trails planner for the city of Fort Collins.
That has postponed the start of construction until August, after the eagle chicks are able to leave the nest, he said.
"We were working so hard to get everything ready to go on the ground and then this,'' Kemp said. "There have been a number of things to work through with this segment of the trail.''
When complete, the 10-foot wide paved trail will connect with the city's existing trail at Rigden Reservoir on the west end and Timnath's section of trail just east of I-25, north of the Super Walmart.
There is good news regarding the city's gap between Rigden Reservoir's existing trail and the existing trail at CSU's Environmental Learning Center.
Kemp said the city is working on an agreement for trail easements with the Great Western Railway and CSU to fill the gap. He said both partners are working to make the connection happen. He said that section could be complete by spring 2025.
The city had looked at various ways to connect this section of trail before entering into the agreement with the railroad and CSU.
"We are grateful for our partners working with us in seeing the vision of the Poudre Trail come to life,'' Kemp said.
Larimer County was supposed to finish its 1 mile section from Windsor's Kyger Open Space to the existing trail in Timnath late last year. However, it continues to work through one final easement agreement and must wait for the end of the irrigation season this fall to construct a bridge over an irrigation canal, according to Zach Wiebe, planning and natural resource specialist at Larimer County Natural Resources.
Wiebe expects to complete the trail by the end of 2024.
Fort Collins' Mail Creek Trail will include railroad overpass
When complete, the Mail Creek Trail will connect the existing Power Trail on the west side to Kinard Core Knowledge Middle School on the east.
The trail along Mail Creek is largely complete from Timberline west to the Union Pacific Railroad tracks. That overpass will provide access to the Power Trail from the east, eliminating the need for trail users to travel north to Harmony Road or south to Trilby Road.
Construction on the overpass is expected to start this fall with completion by spring of 2025. The cost of the overpass is approximately $5 million, according to the city.
Crews previously completed a trail underpass at Timberline Road as part of a project to widen the road.
Crews currently are working on the trail east from Timberline Road along Mail Creek on the north side of Bacon Elementary next to the New Mercer Ditch. Completion of the trail to Kinard is expected in late April or early May, according to Kemp.
The trail will connect with the 5.3-acre Schoolside Park near Bacon Elementary to be built in 2025.
The 4.1-mile Power Trail runs north and south through Fort Collins along the Union Pacific Railroad tracks. It connects with the Spring Creek Trail on the north end and with Larimer County and the city of Loveland trail networks on the south end.
This article originally appeared on Fort Collins Coloradoan: Plagued by delays, Poudre Trail has new route to completion
