A major recreational feature for Guthrie County may see reduced usage next season.

The Raccoon River Valley Trail is a large recreational trail for hikers and bicyclists to enjoy the outdoors on. Guthrie County Conservation Director Brad Halterman says that parts of the trail in Dallas and Guthrie Counties make a large loop that many people enjoy traveling. He adds that many bicyclists traverse the loop in a day’s time.

Halterman tells Raccoon Valley Radio that once the weather warms up, the Dallas County Conservation Board has decided to do some work on their bridges. He advises that this will cause sections of the trail to be closed for some time, and that it may affect traffic on Guthrie County’s part of the trail.

“In the past when we’ve had those type of projects go on, and we’ve had them here in Guthrie County also, the usage tends to drop off some because the loop is a huge draw. When you don’t have that, you lose some people.”

Halterman says that the bridgework is something that needs to be done though, and that Guthrie County will be doing some work of their own as well. He adds that the Guthrie County Conservation Board is looking to do some repairs to approaches to some of the bridges on their section of the trail. This work will close those segments of the trail, but only for a day at a time.