Prairie Trail to grow

COEUR d’ALENE — The 3-mile-long Prairie Trail comes to an abrupt end at Huetter Road. Go no farther. Turn around.

That should change next year.

The Coeur d’Alene City Council on Tuesday unanimously accepted a $250,000, no-match grant to help fund extending the Prairie Trail just more than a mile to Meyer Road.

Monte McCulley, trails coordinator for the city of Coeur d’Alene, said discussions about extending the trail have long been in the works.

He said Post Falls and the county plan to connect the trail where the city of Coeur d’Alene leaves off with Highway 41, reaching Post Falls and Rathdrum.

Combined with the North Idaho Centennial Trail that stretches from the state line through Coeur d’Alene to Higgens Point, it will create a vast trail network linking cities, schools, businesses and parks.

“Projects are lining up at the right time,” he said.

“It’s really amazing how it all came together,” McCulley added.

The Prairie Trail was constructed in 2008 through the combined efforts of the city, ignite cda, the Kroc Center and the North Idaho Centennial Trail Foundation.

It initially covered 4 miles, from Beebe Boulevard to Huetter Road, but the first mile was later designated as the Centennial Trail.

Since, the trail has become increasingly popular and is used by bikers, runners and walkers.

There’s a bit of history as to how Coeur d'Alene came to own this stretch of land outside city limits.

The section of old railroad line, which extends 1.16 miles from Huetter to Meyer, came to ignite cda through a series of loans and defaults, and was eventually gifted to the city due to a land swap between the railroad and the Centennial Trail Foundation.

“It still belongs to us,” McCulley said.

The Centennial Trail Foundation has pushed to extend the trail for years and an anonymous donor gave $50,000 to support that project.

This year, the state’s Local Highway Technical Assistance Council announced a no-match grant for $250,000 for building sidewalks, trails and safe school crossings.

The Parks Department applied for the grant and received approval notice in July.

The project will also involve adding a flashing beacon and crosswalk at Huetter Road to increase safety, as more children are expected to use it.

There are six schools adjacent to the trail and two more are planned.

“We have a lot of schools right off that trail,” McCulley said.

The area is also part of a future Huetter bypass and planned development for an additional 5,000 homes to the southwest.

“In the future, we will partner with the other municipalities to extend the trail even further to help create safe connections for future development,” according to a city outline.

The project is estimated to cost $184,000 for gravel base and asphalt, $100,000 for earthwork and subgrading and $10,000 for the flashing beacon and signs.

The city plans to go to bid in March and begin construction next summer.

Council members were pleased with the plan outlined by McCulley.

“So many of us in the city and the county use these trails,” said Councilwoman Christie Wood. "They’re a way of life in North Idaho.

"This is really exciting. We’re going to extend all the way out there to Meyer.”

“Way to go,” Woody McEvers said.

Councilman Dan English asked how often the city receives no-match grants.

“Never,” McCulley said.