About 50 people attended a celebration of a structure in Greene County that recently reopened after it was forced to close over two years ago.

A portion of the bridge on the Raccoon River Valley Trail south of Jefferson collapsed on March 15, 2019 when ice jams broke five wooden piers of the bridge. Greene County Conservation Director Dan Towers told the crowd seeing the bridge crumble was one of the worst experiences in his 37 years of working for the county. The new bridge now has concrete piers that will withstand ice jams and the other parts of the bridge were restored to how the rest of the structure looks. 

Towers said this project was the second most expensive, over $1 million, with the most expensive being the development of the bike trail through Greene County. He talked about what having the bridge open could mean for Greene County and the City of Jefferson, as one of the spokes off of the trail.

“Just the value of the bike trail to the community. Both for drawing people from the (Des Moines) metro area up here and for giving the local residents something to ride, more than the two miles from town out to the bridge is very important. So there’s really a double-edge factor there. So just the importance of it, it’s towards the very top too.”

Other speakers included a representative with WHKS Engineering from Ames and former Raccoon River Valley Trail Association Board member Chuck Offenburger. A ribbon-cutting was then held to end the program. A daily permit for the trail is $2 or an annual pass is $10, which can be purchased at the Greene County Recorder’s Office.