New trailhead sign as it was being placed in Redfield.

By CHUCK OFFENBURGER

REDFIELD, Iowa, May 10, 2007 – The first of the new trail signs, part of a $50,000 signage system especially designed and fabricated for the Raccoon River Valley Trail, have gone up this week.

Mike Wallace, director of the Dallas County Conservation Board and a member of the RRVT Association board of directors, said his conservation crew members have now installed trailhead signs in Waukee, Linden, Redfield and Adel.

“Landscaping around the base of the signs will be next,” said Wallace.

Meanwhile, trailhead signs for the communities of Jefferson and Cooper in Greene County, as well as mileage markers and other signs for the trail in that county, have been ordered by Dan Towers, of Greene County Conservation, and will be placed soon. The new signage for the trail in that county is being paid for with a $11,550 grant from the Jefferson Telephone Company Charitable Trust.

Another $3,500 in grants will help pay for the rest of the signage in Guthrie and Dallas Counties. That’s been contributed by West Central Cooperative, based in Ralston, Iowa; Land O’Lakes Foundation, based in St. Paul, Minnesota; Alliant Energy Foundation, the charitable arm of the public utility that provides electrical power in several of the RRVT communities, and Western Iowa Networks, a telephone company based in Breda that provides service in parts of Guthrie County.

Total costs of the signage in Guthrie County is expected to be $13,455 dollars and in Dallas County $22,515 dollars. More grants and donations are being sought now, and depending on how the fundraising goes, the entire signage system could be in place before the end of this cycling season.

Cyclists and other trail users will see town markers in each community, and the larger communities will have signs listing local history and attractions, as well as the services and amenities available. Also, as trail users leave each community, and several other prominent landmarks in rural areas, they will see mileage markers detailing how far it is to the next three stops. Eventually, the RRVT Association also hopes to have interpretive signs trailside, out in the rural areas, explaining the historic sites, natural areas and agricultural operations visible along the trail.

The comprehensive signage system was part of a project undertaken in 2005 by a senior-level class in the Iowa State University College of Design. Instructor Cheri Ure, a Green County native who lives near the trail and commutes to campus, and 10 students worked through the spring semester and the following summer researching the history of the trail, the railroads that previously operated on it and the communities along it.

They gave the RRVT Association a package that included not only the new signage, but the design of this Internet site and ideas for RRVT logo apparel, which is now also being sold online on this ’Net site.

Carla Offenburger, of Cooper, the president of the RRVT Association and a veteran cyclist, has said that “we think this new signage system will be the best on any trail in the U.S. We have ridden on trails all over the country, and we have not seen signs anywhere that are as nicely designed as these, or convey as much information as these will.”

Article Published: 05-10-2007