BETTENDORF (AP) — City officials in eastern Iowa are celebrating the completion of the city’s last section of the Mississippi Riverfront Trail.
A ribbon-cutting event was held in Bettendorf on Tuesday to celebrate the trail’s completion, the Quad-City Times reported. The city’s section of the trail cost about $670,000 and includes the construction of a new steel and concrete bridge over Crow Creek.
Bettendorf Mayor Bob Gallagher said the bike trails add to the health of the Quad-Cities and will attract tourists. It also connects the city with communities along the Mississippi River, he said.
Bettendorf City Administrator Decker Ploehn, who also works with the Quad-City Health Initiative and Be Healthy Quad-Cities, said the project is a collaborative effort to promote overall health in the community.
The city now has 13 miles of separated trails, 2 miles of bike lanes along roadways, and 12 miles of recreational trails along greenways and the Mississippi River.
In some portions the trail is separated from U.S. 67, while other sections have an added four-foot-wide shoulder to accommodate cyclists.
Denise Bulat, an avid bicyclist and executive director of the Bi-State Regional Commission, said the wide shoulders are a “huge improvement” to the route.
The Mississippi Riverfront Trail has more than 3,000 miles of on-road bike lanes as well as pedestrian and bicycle paths from Minnesota to the Gulf of Mexico.