RICHMOND – Richmond City has a new walking trial on the east side of town. The cement walkway was finished before anyone in the city had a chance to use it much.
The pathway is paved with concrete for the entire length of the corridor between 300 North and about 350 South, ending at the Horse Arena, almost a mile long. The trail is eight feet wide from Main Street north to 300 North, and six feet wide from Main Street south to the Horse Arena.
Mayor Jeff Young said they just finished it last fall and they have some landscape this spring to finish the trail off.
There was a push to finish it before the weather turned.
“We had concerns about the safety of pedestrians walking on Third East,” he said. “That street has gotten really busy with the ski resort traffic. With two new subdivisions, the only place anyone could walk was a busy traffic area.”
He said the situation has gotten worse over the years. Many people walk or bike along roads or narrow sidewalks to school, church, the post office, or for exercise and recreation.
Most of the local roads in Richmond are low-speed and have had few vehicles throughout the day, but some city streets are becoming much busier and are unsafe for people to walk and bike on.
“We felt like there was some frustration from some of residents when we first proposed it,” Young said. “We tried to work with every landowner to get them to agree to let us do the trail.”
The city had the right of way, but they wanted the residents to be on board with the proposal.
“City Manager Jeremy Kimpton spearheaded the work on the trail,” he said.
Kimpton said the total cost of the project was $325,764. Richmond received funds from the Utah Office of Outdoor Recreation ($65,000,) Utah Division of Parks and Recreation – Recreation Trails Program ($55,000), Cache County RAPZ Tax ($55,000) and Richmond City put $150,764 towards the trail.
At one point, it looked like the trail would not be completed before the weather turned, so Richmond’s Public Works and Kimpton got in and worked hand in hand with the contractor to finish the project.
Casper’s Ice Cream sent 67 employees to help on the project and they put in a total of 492 hours of labor towards the effort.
Residents are just starting to take advantage of the moderate weather, getting out and going for strolls on the new eight foot wide cement path.
Kimpton said they hope to do more projects like the trial in the future. The city would like to make more trails that would connect with the one they just finished..