BEATRICE – It could take years to become a reality, but the City of Beatrice, National Park Service and state transportation officials have agreed on a route for a new rural trail.


It would connect Riverside Park in west Beatrice with the Homestead National Historical Park’s Heritage Center, four miles west of the city. "It was the safest route they came up with. It has the fewest interactions between driveways and pedestrians that would be on the trail."


Monday night, the Beatrice City Council approved a resolution expressing the city’s preference to have the trail along the south side of Nebraska Highway Four, at least 35 feet from the highway….but on public right-of-way. It has an estimated overall cost of $4.65 million.


City Administrator Tobias Tempelmeyer says it was one of four options suggested. Two of the options were adjacent to either side of the highway, while another was 35 feet from the north side of the highway. Tempelmeyer says a next step would be to apply for funding through the Nebraska Department of Transportation.

"Assuming you are awarded that, the last trail we built with these funds took us eight years to build. It's not a quick thing...that's all federal paperwork that has to be done, and environmental reviews. The National Park Service has been able to handle a lot of the paperwork, so that's been very helpful to us. We'll have to figure out what our match is, as we move forward."


The last time the city made use of a federal surface transportation enhancement grant, the city picked up 20-percent of the cost.


The concrete trail, either ten feet or twelve feet wide…..would extend from the Homestead Heritage Center at Nebraska Highway Four and Southwest 75th Road, east to River Road, then likely along the south side of River Road eventually connecting with an existing trail that dead ends, at Riverside Park. It would include some stream crossings, with trail bridges of 12-feet width.