PANORA, Iowa, April 14, 2010 – Work on the long-awaited resurfacing of the last original section of the Raccoon River Valley Trail — between Panora and Yale in Guthrie County — is now underway, much earlier than trail officials had anticipated it would begin.

The new, 5.5 miles of concrete surface should be completed by early June, if the spring weather cooperates.  The RRVT between the two towns was closed to public usage on Monday, April 12, until the work is completed.

“We had our pre-construction meeting on Tuesday (March 30) with about 12 to 15 people there representing the contractor, sub-contractor, my staff and others who will be part of the project,” said Guthrie County Conservation Director Joe Hanner, who manages the trail in that county.  ”We got to a point where we were talking about when the work would be done this year, and the contractor surprised me when he said, ‘Well, we’d like to start Monday,’ ” which is April 5.

“I was not only surprised, I was shocked,” Hanner said. “I said, ‘But there are still big snowdrifts on the trail up there between Panora and Yale!’  He said they’d already been out looking at the trail, and the parts where they want to get started on some preliminary work aren’t covered.  They’re still going to be dealing with some mud out there, but they’re ready to get started.”

The general contractor on the $719,715 project is Jasper Construction Services, of Newton, IA.  Its president Steve Rhodes said at the meeting that construction crews from the company are also working on the new paving project on the Sauk Rail Trail in nearby Carroll County, and will be moving back and forth between the projects.

The stretch between Panora and Yale was the north end of the RRVT when it was constructed in 1989.  The old asphalt surface lasted well beyond its expected life of 12 years, but it began badly deteriorating in recent years.  Hanner’s staff had patched and re-patched it.

“Numerous trail users have told staff of the Guthrie County Conservation Board that they will not use the Panora to Yale portion of the RRVT because of the condition that the trail was in,” said Hanner. “We kept applying for possible grants to help with the resurfacing, but we kept being scored behind new trail projects around Iowa.”

But in March, 2009, the resurfacing between Panora and Yale was selected for funding by the federal government’s new economic stimulus program, and funds became available for “shovel ready” projects.

When Hanner learned that work could start immediately on the project, he raised a question “about when we could reasonably expect completion because we’re trying to work around at least one big event — the Tour the Raccoon ride” that the Des Moines Cycle Club will have on the full length of the trail the weekend of June 12-13. 

“Steve Rhodes said that the project will take about 30 work days to complete,” Hanner said.  “If the weather is reasonable, he said you can expect to have 30 work days in a two-month period. That would take us right up to that weekend in June, and Rhodes said, ‘Well, that’ll be a good goal for us.’  But if the weather is good, it could be finished earlier than that.

“When this project is completed, more trail users will visit Guthrie County,” Hanner said.  “That will bring in more revenues which is good for main street businesses.”

The rest of the original part of the RRVT has all been resurfaced earlier.  Dallas County completed its resurfacing from Adel to just north of Linden in 2005.  In Guthrie County, a new concrete surface was completed in 2007 from Panora to north of Linden.

The Greene County portion of the RRVT was built in the late 1990s.  Concrete was used from Jefferson south four miles to Winkleman Switch, and then asphalt was used from Winkleman Switch to Yale.  That stretch of trail has been patched on a regular basis, but is beginning to deteriorate.  Greene County Conservation Director Dan Towers in recent months filed an application for a new round of federal stimulus funding, on the chance that money is available for concrete resurfacing.

Meanwhile, work is underway on the 33-mile “North Loop” addition to the RRVT.   Work on that project will be happening this year, in 2011 and possibly 2012 before it is completed.