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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 9, 1997)
TOP: AMERICAN LEGION MEMBER LEROY SHABRAN totes his M-1 parade rifle while ■arc him daring Bellpli'i lelihuitloi of the Cowboy Thill opening. ABOVE: CUTTRKI THE RIB80R for the Cowboy Rail opening in Neligh are (from left): Mary Wilkiasee, Oakdale city ceancllwenaR; Karen Cfsler, Neligb mayor, and nvStwiiwiii) neau or pianniiiy Tur uie ueiia State's first recreational path connects northern Nebraska By Patrick Kelly Staff Reporter NELIGH - Townspeople gathered here Sunday at a simple, yet highly significant, ceremony. The Neligh-Oakdale High School Band and the local chapter of the American Legion began the event with a parade. Mayor Karen Cisler cut the ribbon to a new trail for hikers and bicyclists, while similar dignitaries did likewise in O’Neill and Valentine. The circumstance connecting the three northern Nebraska cities is the Cowboy Trail. \ Billed as Nebraska’s first state recre ational trail and the longest national rails to-trails conversion, it spans 321 miles, from Norfolk to Chadron. The trail follows the former path of the Chicago and Northwestern Railroad running along U.S. Highway 20. Trail advocate Pat Foote and others were very enthusiastic about the project’s potential to unite towns along the pathway. “It’s linking (communities), maybe even with football rivalries,” said Foote, a Nebraska Game and Parks Commission employee. “It’s bringing them together.” The preservation of these railroad corri dors is part of a technique known as “rail banking,” in which stretches of land are kept open for utilities like fiber-optic cables. While the strips of land are available for other public uses, their primary purpose is for hikers and bikers. Although the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission undertook the project in December 1994, weather setbacks delayed the trail’s opening until this fall. Since then, the trail’s 221 bridges have been decked, and guard rails have been installed to accommodate users. Most of the trail’s surface is made of tightly packed gravel, but future plans include cementing the trail in Valentine, Ainsworth, Long Pine and O’Neill, and adding gravel to the path from Norfolk to Oakdale. Federal grants from the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act have I I II—— I _ ——i LARRY VOECKS, the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission recreational trail man ager, has helped coordinate construction of the Cowboy Ml, the longest ralls-to traHs conversion in the nation. primarily funded the project. However, Congress currently is debating whether future funds will be diverted for other trans portation routes, like roads and highways. If the ISTEA funds are dropped, the trail will lose only added refinements, such as higher-quality surfaces. The debate also involves talk of starting another system of funding to continue what the ISTEA grant initiated. f To date, the Nebraska Department of Roads - which receives thfe funds - has ear marked more than $1.48 million for the trail, trail heads and other expenses. The nearly renovated Chicago and NorthWestehi Depot in O’Neill also has received $196,000. For now, and to the delight of communi ties along the path, the Cowboy Trail is open and ready for use, Foote said. “This may be the biggest thing to have happened to die trail’s towns since they lost the railroad,” she said. “We’re very happy to complete this.” DWAYNE WESTERHAUL, head of planning for the Cowboy Trail, and Karon Clsler, Nellgh’s mayor, receive a portion of the more than $1.6< million ear marked for construction of the trail and trailheads. Photos by Mike Warren/DN
