Yutan receives grants for new pedestrian trail

Amy Arensberg remembers the day she saw it:

A student, who was late for class at Yutan High School, cut through a heavily wooded area.

Arensberg was too far away to tell the student to stop, but she knew where he was going -- down into the Upper Clear Creek where he would take a shortcut by crossing over a pipe. The student made it to class, but Arensberg knows the danger he faced by crossing that creek.

“There are trees that have fallen (into the creek) where kids shouldn’t be messing around -- and trash and debris and bottles,” said Arensberg, the school’s business and technology coordinator.

For years, that creek and railroad tracks have divided the town of Yutan.

The Timbercrest subdivision lies on the east end of this community of 1,200. Yutan’s elementary and high schools are on the west. And despite parental warnings, kids of all ages cross the creek and Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway tracks to get to class, said Yutan Public Schools Superintendent Kevin Johnson.

This less-than-safe way of getting across town has prompted residents to take some important steps.

So for some time, they have been working on the Yutan Trail System.

The first phase of this pedestrian/bike trail will involve construction of a 10-foot-wide concrete path that would extend from the subdivision, across Yutan’s Timbercrest Park, the creek, the tracks, across the elementary school to Second Street (the main road leading into Yutan from the highway) — a distance of a little over a mile, said Cory Vasek, a group member.

Earhardt, Griffin and Associates of Omaha is engineering the project estimated to cost $695,000, Vasek said. The project will include a 75-foot-long, concrete bridge over the creek and a 60-foot-long, concrete, box-shaped tunnel under the railroad tracks.

“We’ve been in negotiations with the railroad about how to build this tunnel so students won’t have to cross the tracks,” Vasek said.

He said the engineering firm is almost ready to

submit its final proposal to the railroad.

Vasek hopes work on the trail will begin next spring.

The idea for a paved trail surfaced in the 1990s. Vasek, then on the city’s planning commission, said the trail has been part of Yutan’s comprehensive plan since 1992.

Later, a group of volunteers, which included Vasek, formed a trail committee.

“We decided to try to get a grant,” he said.

They were successful at getting more than one.

Project funding will come from a Safe Routes to School Grant for $350,000; Transportation Enhancement Grant for $250,000; a Nebraska Game and Parks Commission grant for $30,000.

The Lower Platte North Natural Resources District is providing $30,000 in matching funds. The City of Yutan is providing $30,000, Vasek said.

Vasek, who teaches seventh- and eighth-grade history in Omaha, believes this trail is needed for Yutan students.

“Right now, there’s a lot of safety issues with kids crossing the tracks and engineers have reported close calls,” Vasek said.

Arensberg believes the creek also presents hazards. For one, it’s in a heavily wooded area without houses nearby.

“If a kid fell in, nobody would hear their cries for help,” she said.

So people like Vasek, Arensberg and Johnson are pleased about the trails project.

“From a school standpoint, we’re very excited about that trail coming into our area of town,” Johnson said. “It’s going to dress up that part of town. It’s going to take a rough, wooded area with no access and turn it into a public trailway for bikes and walking and jogging and connect the two parts of town.”

What’s more, Phase II of the trails project would connect the trail in the park to the new Itan Parkview Subdivision, started about four years ago on the east side of town.

But before that phase can begin, about 90 percent of Phase I must be completed.

In the meantime, as part of the Safe Routes to School grant, railroad and trail safety educational programs will be planned for students.

Vasek has been impressed by residents’ teamwork.

“The school has been very cooperative. We have park board members working on this and community members just volunteering and the city council has been very cooperative,” Vasek said.

Vasek looks forward to the day the new trail is in place.

“You’re looking at a whole new route for people to travel,” Vasek said. “When we complete this, it will keep Yutan moving forward. Trails are such a big part of other communities. For us to get this amount of grant money, it showed the need for the safety, but it showed we have a good plan for connecting the community better.”