DAWSON, Iowa, April 15, 2010 – Paving on the new “North Loop” of the Raccoon River Valley Trail in west central Iowa is now officially underway.

Workers from the Grimes Asphalt & Paving Corp. in the middle of this week completed two miles of the new trail’s concrete surface going east from Dawson.  Work will continue on the 5.5-mile right-of-way to Perry, and the half-mile of right-of-way going south from Perry to a spur into the grounds of the Forest Park Museum, which is also the headquarters of Dallas County Conservation. The two miles of trail within the town of Perry is already completed and in use.

The paving project gets underway in Dawson. As workers put down warning strips where the Raccoon River Valley Trail will meet the street in Dawson, the view to the east shows the renovated Dawson Depot, which will become a trail welcome center, on the left and the West Central Cooperative grain elevator on the right.

The trail in the rural areas will not be open for public use until the finishing shoulder work is completed, but Dallas County Conservation Director Mike Wallace said the contractor is “shooting to have that done” by the end of May.

About a mile of the North Loop has also been completed within the town of Dallas Center. When the whole loop project is eventually completed, in 2011 or 2012, it will add 33 miles to the current 56 miles of the RRVT.