After a record number of votes for national recognition, the Raccoon River Valley Trail has earned its place in a hall of fame. 

The Raccoon River Valley Trail, which runs through portions of all three Raccoon Valley Radio-coverage  area counties, including Greene, Dallas and Guthrie counties, secured 42-percent of the public votes to earn its place in the Rails-to-Trails Conservancy Hall of Fame, which reported a record more than 38,000 votes.

Dallas County Conservation Board Director Mike Wallace says it was an honor to be nominated for the chance to be included in the hall of fame. Wallace also thanked the Raccoon River Valley Trail Association for its hard work promoting the trail. 

“Thanks to everybody who worked hard at promoting this. It’s really an honor that we were even nominated. It kind of told us right then and there that you know we do have some national recognition after all.”

The 89-mile path is known to have the nation’s longest paved recreational loop and features attractions such as the lighted bridge in the City of Adel, a 350-foot pergola in Waukee and a bridge south of Jefferson that cost $850,000 to replace after the ice jams and floods in 2019. 

The public voting period ran from July 31st to August 6th and saw the local trail go against New Hampshire’s Northern Rail Trail and Deleware’s Georgetown-Lewes Trail and Junction and Breakwater Trail.