Grand Island expands trail system with new extension

GRAND ISLAND, Neb. (KSNB) - The City of Grand Island has added more miles to its trail system with a recent extension on the south side of town. The new trails connect the Prairie District and Hall County Park, thanks to a project completed by Chief Construction.

This extension adds two miles to the Hike and Bike Trail, which winds around the Grand Island Regional Medical Center and south of the Prairie District, eventually linking to the Hall County Park trail beneath Highway 281.

Chad Nabity, Grand Island's Community Development Director, emphasized the importance of pedestrian safety in the planning of this connection.

"The great separation is huge," Nabity said. "Being able to separate vehicular traffic from pedestrians and cyclists, especially on a street, or a road like Highway 281, where there's four lanes of traffic and they're going at 45 or 55 miles an hour. That's a dangerous situation."

Nabity also credited Chief Construction with playing a vital role in completing the extension project in south Grand Island.

"Within this particular section, if they had not included trail in their development around the hospital, a lot of this other stuff would not have happened, but because of that, there's an endpoint," Nabity said. "It gives a way for people to get from one place to another and a safe way for people to get from one place to another."

He noted that changing attitudes among property owners and developers have contributed to recent trail extensions, with many now seeing the benefits of being located along a trail.

"The developers have really started to step up and see it as an amenity and something that they can bring in," Nabity said. "The other thing that has enabled them to do it is Tax Increment Financing. It is public infrastructure and so they are putting those in and using that as an amenity as well."

The extension around the Prairie District and Hall County Park is one of several improvements made to Grand Island's trail system, and Nabity indicated that more expansions are planned in the coming years.

"Ideally, we'll get the trail system looped all the way around town," Nabity said. "You look at the new Highway 30 reconstruction and there are bridges actually being built for trails, so the trail can be built under Highway 30 and connect into the shoemaker trail to the north."

Nabity also highlighted that the trail system offers an alternative for pedestrians to navigate town and reduces reliance on crosswalks at busy intersections.