sknhgy 

About a year ago my town announced a bike trail going in. It was to link two parks on the edge of town. They even got a grant.
About 6 months ago the radio said all resources were being pulled from the trail to build a roundabout.
I called Parks and Rec and told them what I heard, and the guy sounded pissed at me. He said the trail was going in, and where did I hear it wasn't? I told him which radio station said it.
I went to a city counsel meeting. They all said the bike trail is still a top priority and work would be done in the fall.
No work started, so I called Parks and Rec and was told again work would start soon, but they had to do some yada, yada, yada stuff first.

Well. It's almost winter and nothing has been done on the trail. Maybe I should go to another city counsel meeting.

Troul 

that's SOP for such things from the government. they'll freely lie, & they don't care.

zandoval 

Well here is another one... Ha

Kinda reminds me of an Austin Texas 700,000 USD grant that got eaten up by a million dollar environmental impact study. At least they told ya where the money is going. Maybe?

sknhgy 

That would suck. Another town in our district has a butt load of trails. Our town pretty much has zilch. My town made a big deal about getting a grant from the bike trail organization. But now it looks like that money ain't going to a bike trail.
I'm going to go to the next meeting.

tomato coupe

Have they finished the roundabout?

sknhgy 

No. They have done nothing on that either.

tomato coupe

So, the roundabout probably has priority over the trail, and they're behind schedule. This is normal.

SpedFast

Having written and received grants in the past for recreational trails, I find it hard to believe that the monies would go to another project not approved by the grant guidelines. Most even have time frames in which the monies have to be spent on said project or it goes back to the grantor. But I have to agree, NEPA and other environmental studies can and will chew up a lot of the money before the project even gets started. Strange how that works...

john m flores 

Keep at it. Maybe try to get other cyclists to join you at the town meeting. I'm involved in town politics and so many decisions are made without the public at the meetings. When people show up, their voices are heard.

sknhgy 

I plan to hit the next meeting. Maybe get a friend to go, too.

Steve B.

As SpedFast stated and as a former state (NY) employee that dealt with state and city funding as well as grants, it’s just takes forever. There are so many rules that need to be followed it’s just a time consuming process. Then it goes low bid and takes longer. Figure a few years. They “might” tell you at a town meeting, but then those folks might not know the particulars. Maybe write a letter as well, or e-mail if possible,

Troul 

the general process for doing things that requires government revenues is setup with delays before they even begin.
Often times the timeline is put in first before actually knowing facts or establishing times from "like" legacy programs. If that area could even be revamped to be more precise, then things might flow differently. It will never change b/c society likes drama.

One Wheel

I drive past this "trail" a couple of times a week:

https://wirivertrail.org/trail-construction/

2 miles of trail completed in 2016, still "working" on the other 20 miles. When I've ridden there I've always felt more comfortable staying in the parallel traffic lane.

sknhgy 

OK Cool Thanks.

Heck. They ain't even painted a shovel gold yet.

sknhgy 

I've ridden some of those trails in Wisconsin. I remember there's one with the long tunnel and you get rained on and they say the frost never completely thaws in it.

dedhed

20 miles is a long way when you're talking easements, ROW, and a river crossing bridge.

One Wheel

I've been up there too. I think it's the other way around though: the tunnel never freezes.

There's ample room to mark a bike lane across the current bridge, I don't think they're trying to build a new bridge. They literally haven't picked up a shovel since Barack Obama was president.

Edit: nevermind, they do want to build a bridge, I was misunderstanding which side of the river they want the trail on. 7 years is still silly: until proven otherwise the real project is paying the salary of the grant writer.

dedhed

The Ozaukee Interurban trail bridge over I-43 took 7 years just to fund and build the $1.76M bridge (2009 dollars)

XxHaimBondxX

Great news, the trail is finally finished.

jon c. 

love the sign

sknhgy 

Hey they have finally begun!!!! They did a groundbreaking the other day.
A mile or so down that tree line was a major Underground RR station.