GPTN is working on a new trails map! GPTN hired Thought District, a Lincoln-based marketing company to design a new, full-color map to showcase our extensive trails system. This 24 x 27 inch map has amazing street-level detail and the trail colors on the map correspond with new trail signs the Lincoln Parks and Recreation Department will be installing in 2012. We will be printing 25,000 copies for distribution in Spring 2012. As always, our map will be handed out free-of-charge. If your business is interested in becoming a map sponsor, please contact Gary Bentrup gbentrup@windstream.net for more information. Deadline for sponsorship is January 6, 2012.
Always wondered where Lincoln’s trails could lead you?
Trail Trek 2011 is your chance to find out!
This family-focused, all ages event gives cyclists a chance to explore Lincoln’s trail system-with the Journal Star and a dedicated group of volunteers as your guides. Sign up now so you and your family won’t miss the food, music and fun Sunday, June 26 at Haymarket Park, 403 Line Drive Circle.
Each participant receives
• t-shirt
• water bottle
• on-trail snacks
• lunch at Haymarket Park.
Four different routes through different regions of Lincoln provide a wide variety of distances and scenery. All proceeds benefit the Great Plains Trail Network-a group of citizens who advocate and support a network of trails in and around Lancaster County, Nebraska, for jogging, biking, walking and horseback riding.
Registering for Trail Trek 2011 automatically enters you in a drawing to win a new Trek bicycle. Twenty bicycles will be given away.
A temporary detour of the Billy Wolff Trail between “A” Street and 27th Street will be necessary for work taking place on the east side of the Children’s Zoo. The detour begins at “A” Street using a wide sidewalk on the south side of “A” Street connecting to the Rock Island Trail located west of the Billy Wolff Trail. Trail users will then use the Rock Island Trail going north to 27th Street. There will periodic detours just south of 27th Street that will go around Teachers Fountain to the 27th Street intersection. Trail users will need to cross the 27th Street intersection until the 27th Street underpass is opened up.
The trail and underpass have been closed between “A” Street and 27th and Capitol Parkway for channel work being done as part of a Lower Platte South NRD Project. When complete, this project will increase flood storage capacity along that section of the channel. Phase I of the project consists of relocation of multiple water lines that will be in the path of new construction on the south side of “A” Street. Phase II of construction involves removal of soil in the area of the trail on the east side of the channel, construction of retaining wall and installation of a new trail that will be located on the same alignment but lower in the channel. The trail will come up near the sandstone area and then return to a lower level between the sandstone and 27th street underpass. A new separate bicycle/pedestrian underpass at “A” Street is part of this project. This new underpass will provide for a new ramp on the south side with a more gradual slope. The “A” Street and 27th Street underpasses will be opened when the project has been completed. Final completion is scheduled for November 1.
There will also be temporary detours between 27th Street and Randolph Street as a new bridge and connection to the Antelope Valley Trails is being completed. The Trail is going to be relocated to the east side of the channel. Temporary detour is the sidewalk on the west side of Capitol Parkway.
We appreciate your patience while this work is taking place.
As the city of Lincoln updates its Comprehensive Plan, including the Long Range Transportation Plan, now is a great time to review the future trails plan.
For more information and how to get involved, go here.
Check out Google maps bicycle feature if you haven’t recently. They have most of Lincoln’s trails on there. It may not be perfect, but it is a good place to start for route planning.
LPlan 2040 is the current public process and planning effort to create the latest version of the Lincoln-Lancaster County Comprehensive Plan and the Long Range Transportation Plan.
There are several ways to get involved and give your input about how you think Lincoln should look in the future.
“Getting Around” ideas can be submitted until August 13th. Got an idea for Lincoln’s Trails or other transportation issues? This is the place to be heard. Read and vote on other ideas too.
The West Van Dorn Pedestrian Bridge over the Haines Branch of Salt Creek closed today. Continued deterioration of the structure since the 2009 inspection has made it unsuitable for use as a pedestrian bridge. This section of the Bison Trail, which runs between Pioneers Park and Van Dorn Park, will remain closed until funding is available to remove and replace the structure. No trail detour is available.
The West Van Dorn bridge was built in 1936 and carried vehicular traffic until the late 1990s when the new Homestead Expressway interchange shifted the street to the north. The bridge and part of the abandoned street were converted for trail use in 2002.
The City Public Works and Utilities Department inspects bridges in the City every two years on a rotating basis.
For more information, contact Erika Nunes, Public Works and Utilities Department, 441-5675 or Terry Genrich, Parks and Recreation Department, 441-7939.
