Portions of two trails running through North Liberty will be closed this summer, while planning for new trail segments in Tiffin and Johnson County will continue, officials said.

A portion of the Dubuque Street trail closed earlier this month, and portions of the North Liberty Recreation Trail also will be closed this summer.

In Tiffin, officials are planning phase five of a project to help connect Kent Park with Coralville, while county officials are planning to extend Eastern Iowa's Hoover Trail system.

Iowa City Community School District officials have said they will provide a detour during the Dubuque Street trail closure, which comes as a result of construction on the district's new Liberty High in North Liberty.

However, several trail users said the detour is less than ideal, although they support an inconvenient route to no route at all.

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Dubuque St. trail

A portion of the Dubuque Street trail near the Liberty High site closed earlier in June and will remain closed until Aug. 31. The project includes plans to elevate the trail and widen it from 8 feet to 10 feet, district officials have said.

The Iowa City Community School District established a detour along Oakdale Boulevard, 12th Avenue, Front Street and Zeller Street, according to a district news release.

North Liberty Parks Director Guy Goldsmith said city staff discussed the route with district officials, and that the district was responsible for creating the detour.

"That will get you around that section," he said. Read More...

North Liberty Recreation Trail

The first of three phases in a renovation of the North Liberty Recreation Trail began last week on a trail section between Zeller Street and Golfview Drive. The overall project will last until late August or early September.

Goldsmith said renovations include surface repairs, new asphalt and plans to raise and widen the low-lying section from Zeller Street to Golfview Drive. Read More...

Trail work in Tiffin

City officials in Tiffin said they hope this fall to bid phase five of a trail project that would help connect Kent Park with Coralville.

Mayor Steve Berner said Tiffin's portion of the project calls for creating a nearly two-mile trail section from Tiffin's eastern border at Highway 218 south of Interstate 80 to Tiffin's western border at Ireland Avenue.

He said officials estimate phase five will cost $402,500, and that federal grant dollars will fund $150,000 of this cost, while city funds will pay for the rest. Read More...

Trail work in Johnson County

In Johnson County, Conservation Program Manager Brad Freidhof said he said he doesn't anticipate the county will close any existing trails for renovations this summer but will continue expanding another.

Freidhof said work continues on a project to extend the Hoover Trail from the border of Linn and Johnson counties to Solon, with county officials working on the trail segment's planning and design. Read More...