Fort Collins opens final section of Poudre River Trail
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FORT COLLINS, Colo. — After more than 45 years of planning, fundraising and construction, the Poudre River Trail (PRT) is nearly complete.
On Monday, Fort Collins officials opened one of the final sections — a one mile stretch that bridges a trail gap between Rigden Reservoir and Colorado State University’s Environmental Learning Center — solidifying the vision for a continuous, 45 mile, multi-use path between Bellveue, Colorado and Greeley, Colorado.
“It takes a village to bring one of these types of projects to fruition,” said Dave Kemp, senior trails planner with the city.
In 1882, a similar route took the Greely, Salt Lake and Pacific Railroad just two years to build, so what makes trail building so time intensive, and what lessons can other trail builders take from this project?
Trans-regional vision
The idea for the trail dates back to the late 1970s, when city planners and regional policy makers imagined a route that would roughly trace the Cache La Poudre River.
At the time, Greeley, Windsor and Fort Collins, Colorado were all building trails within their own boundaries, said George Moncaster, a graduate student at Colorado State University and the lead author of a public history project about the Poudre River Trail. But the idea for a continuous path that would link the three communities was bold.
Fort Collins “City Council decided to give it a go,” said Kemp. “The first section was installed there along Lee Martinez Park. I think the public really appreciated it and wanted to see more.”
A waiting game
Despite the popularity of the trail’s early segments, raising money, navigating the city’s fluctuating priorities and negotiating with landowners delayed the project.
“Sometimes it takes years of coordination and negotiation with property owners,” said Kemp.
In addition to mere patience, trail builders have relied extensively on partnerships with industrial and agricultural landowners along the trail.
For example, the most-recent addition to the trail depended on an agreement with the Great Western Railroad to construct the route along its property. Other parts of the trail pass by aggregate and sand mining plants.
“It's not a pristine, rural wilderness area, but it's actually a trail that passes both natural sites and sites of industry,” said Moncaster.
Moncaster sees the trail’s unity of the urban environment and nature as a selling point.
“You don't have to remove all of the industry or get rid of private landowners and their rights in order to be able to enjoy the Cache La Poudre River. It's a really easy binary to fall into and the truth is, it doesn't have to be that way at all,” he said.
While the original vision for the Poudre River Trail largely resembles its now concrete form, Moncaster noticed in his research an increasing focus on the utilitarian value of the trail to the community.
“The idea of commuting has become much stronger because you do see people working across all of these municipalities,” he said.
“The idea of commuting has become much stronger because you do see people working across all of these municipalities,” he said.
The Poudre River Trail bolsters the city’s vast network of multi-use paths, which include Spring Creek Trail and Fossil Creek Trail.
“Having this larger system of safe, comfortable bikeways within the community has been a City Council priority, for many years,” said Kemp.
But building such trails doesn’t come cheap.
“In today's dollars, with the planning and the engineering and the permitting and the easement agreements, you're averaging probably a little over $1 million a mile for a trail,” said Kemp.
Kemp believes the investment is worth the cost because he said the trail will continue to benefit the community for years to come. He points to the consistent popularity of parks and recreation in the city’s annual satisfaction survey as evidence that trails matter.
For decades, planners depended on piecemeal donations, volunteer labor and a hodge-podge mix of public dollars to chip away at the Poudre River Trail.
“One of the big game changers was back when Great Outdoors Colorado was initiated. That automatically provided the city funds from the Colorado Lottery to do these sorts of projects, to build parks and to build trails,” said Kemp.
The most recent trail connections were made possible by a $2 million grant from Great Outdoors Colorado in 2019.
Worth the wait
Change may be slow, but for trail users, the Poudre River Trail is worth the wait.
Merry Boggs, a retired teacher, moved to Fort Collins from Dallas six months ago. In Texas, “It feels like you’re riding with a target on your back,” she said. “There are no bike lanes.”
Boggs enjoys riding and walking along the Poudre River Trail and the ability to do many of her errands by bike.
“It’s opened up a whole new world for us,” she said.
Although Boggs generally feels safe riding down on-street bike lanes, she enjoys the ability to cruise for miles along the Poudre River Trail without worrying about cars.
“There are days we’ve done 15 miles. We’ll have a picnic lunch and stop along the way,” she said.
For Moncaster, who grew up in Lincolnshire, England, his research on the Poudre River Trail provided a rapid introduction to the nuances of Northern Colorado politics.
“It's really an interesting history because it's not top down in any sense,” he said.
Moncaster will release a final draft of his research next month. He will also lead a public lecture about the trail’s history in January 2025.
Despite the project's byzantine, protracted history, Moncaster hopes other civic planners recognize the value of the trail’s collaborative nature.
“Collaboration is possible. It might not always seem that way, but it is possible. And it works,” said Moncaster.