I know many of you have been sorely missing your Princeton/Cortland ride via the Homestead trail, so I hope you were able to go check it out this past weekend.
One can see where the repairs were made and a serious amount of industrial strength weed whacking of overgrowth along the sides of the trail is apparent. You find that along segments of the Mopac as well.
My ride took me to Pickrell. I kept wanting to see a little more even though I knew I was going to have a headwind on the ride back. There is a little damage still from Cortland to Pickrell, but it’s not difficult to avoid.
There are holes washed out of the edges of a couple of the bridges, and there was still washboard on the trail in a few places, but some of that is always there.
One thing I’ve always noticed about the Cortland to Pickrell section is how it just has a different feel from the Lincoln to Cortland segment. The vegetation is a little different and even the songbirds are different from what I notice around Lincoln, though I’m not a birder. It seems wilder.
14th street to Saltillo isn’t open however, so that makes getting to the trail head interesting. You have to improvise. I’ve heard meetings about the repair of that segment will begin the end of this month.
The following notices come from http://bike.lincoln.ne.gov
Trail Closures and Expansions to Start in April
A sanitary sewer project at about 6th and Calvert streets will temporarily close portions of the Salt Creek Levee Trail and the Jamaica North Trail starting Monday, April 11. The work is expected to take until mid-May.
Signs have been posted to notify trail users at major access points ahead of the closure. The suggested detour routes are as follows:
- Salt Creek Levee Trail – The trail is open from Park Blvd. north and to the Van Dorn and Bison trails. Trail users can connect to the Jamaica Trail using the Van Dorn Trail to S. 8th and then the South Street Trail. Jamaica North – Take the South Street Trail to S. 8th, and then go south to the Van Dorn Trail to connect to the Salt Creek Levee and Bison trails.
- Also starting next week are projects to add to three trails. The MoPac Trail will have a new connection to 52nd Street, and the Rock Island Trail will have a new connection at Arlington Avenue. Both trails will remain open. The Boosalis Trail will have a new connection at Dunn Avenue. This work will require the closure of the trail from 20th to 27th streets for about four days. The suggested detour is Kessler Blvd., just north of Highway 2.
These three projects were identified as priority neighborhood trail connections in the 2040 Bicycle and Pedestrian Capital Plan.
Also coming up:
- Yankee Hill Trail (between 70th and 91st): This is a Public Works Project that will provide a trail along Yankee Hill and a connection with a new Middle School at 84th and Yankee Hill. This project will be constructed when Yankee Hill is improved. Expected completion is August 2017.