Coralville plans high-tech trailhead

Tue March 18 2008
Posted Mar 18, 2008
6,362

By Kathryn Fiegen Iowa City Press-Citizen Coralville city officials are in the planning stages for a high-tech trailhead on Clear Creek trail near Camp Cardinal Boulevard to be built next year. City Parks and Recreation director Sherri Proud said the project will be the first of four planned trailheads on Clear Creek Trail, using $1.25 million in federal earmarks provided by Sen. Tom Harkin. The project will be near Camp Cardinal Boulevard and Clear Creek, she said, on the east side of the road. The site will have restroom and drinking water facilities, a kiosk with trail and creek information, parking spaces for 15 to 20 cars and creek access. City officials are also working with the University of Iowa Civil and Environmental Engineering Department to install a system near the water that monitors the level of bacteria in the creek from day to day. “That is really cool,” Proud said. Architectural design drafts will be worked up this spring and submitted to the Iowa Department of Natural Resources. The project is expected to be constructed in the spring of 2009. Right now, Coralville has 20 miles of bike trail and wide sidewalk and trailheads at North Ridge Pavilion and the Brown Deer Golf Club, Proud said. “(Trailheads) give you a place to stop and rest, or share information about the trail,” she said. “And if the trailhead is where you want to start, it gives you a place to park.” The Clear Creek trailhead is also a part of the Clear Creek Master Plan, Proud said. The plan calls for the preservation of the 300 acres of green space between University of Iowa property and the interchange between Interstate 80 and Interstate 380. “It’s a very natural area and there are a lot of native species out there,” she said. “We’re not going to go into that area and build any big developments.” This summer, construction will begin on the second half of the Clear Creek trail’s Phase IV, which will connect trails at Highway 6 and the Clear Creek Bridge to the University of Iowa married student housing area near Mormon Trek. Proud said the city is currently looking for funds to start Phase V of the project, to connect the trail south of I-Hop on James St. to near Deer Creek Road.