Lots of bicyclists dawned their favorite outfits to be a part of a special ceremony and ribbon cutting Saturday in a small Dallas County town.

The final nine mile stretch was recently completed that connects the Raccoon River Valley Trail to the High Trestle Trail as there was a public recognition and ribbon cutting ceremony held in Bouton. Rebecca Hillmer, vice president of the Dallas County Conservation Board, began with remarks about the project. She said the project started in 2014 and nine years later, the almost nine miles of pavement and $5.8 million later, the connector was completed.

Other speakers included the newly hired Dallas County Conservation Director Curt Cable, Iowa Bicycle Coalition Executive Director Luke Hoffman, as well as representatives from Rails to Trails Conservancy, Snyder and Associates, that did the design and engineering for the project; Iowa Natural Heritage Foundation, and guest speaker Chuck Offenburger, who was a member of the Raccoon River Valley Trail Association, 16-time co-host of the Register’s Great Bike Ride Across Iowa and bicycle enthusiast. He spotlighted the critical part this connector has in the bigger picture.

“What we have here now in our trails-network, with the completion of the last link, I think is when it really happens, we have among the best trails in this country and it’s really become a national attraction among people who are interested, not only in bicycling, but just getting out and walking trails, or skating trails, or skiing trails. It’s amazing what we’ve got here.”  

Recently retired Dallas County Conservation Director Mike Wallace was one of the leaders of the project. He was honored on Saturday with a presentation of two plaques that will be posted on the bridge over Beaver Creek and named the Mike Wallace Bridge. He highlighted one of the major reasons why this project took nine years was obtaining 104 easements from landowners.

“In looking back this was a tremendous project. It took a long time to get here. It’s a lot easier when you can buy 35 miles, 20 miles, you name it from a railroad company and then build a trail on an existing railroad right of way. As you heard earlier, this was a little bit different. The land had already reverted back to private landowners and so that just took it to the next level as far as how long it was going to take. But I know I can speak on behalf of the (Conservation) Board that we’re very happy and proud that we have completed this project.”  

Dallas County Supervisor Mark Hansen then read the proclamation that the Supervisors previously approved that marked August 17th at 1pm the official opening of the connector. The event began with an initial bike ride at 11am with several people that were led by the Iowa Bicycle Coalition from Perry to Woodward and back to Bouton for the ceremony.