March 1, 2006

It has been a slow quarter for trail news and with the wind howling and the snow piling up outside, trails are the last thing on most people’s list of important topics. However, rumor has it that spring is coming on the 21st of this month and it won’t be long before the trails are overflowing with pedestrians, runners, roller bladders, and bicyclists.

Ralston Trail Link to Big Papio
A recent article in the Omaha World Herald announced that the final connector link from the Ralston trail to the Big Papio will be completed in May of this year. Currently, the trail begins at Wildewood Park at 78th Street and runs along a tributary before continuing north on 72nd Street to its terminus at Q Street. For more detail, see the Big Papio Trail aerial (sheet 7 of 8).

National Trails Day
Karen, an Omahatrails member is asking trail enthusiasts to remember National Trails Day on June 2nd. In the past, one of the Omaha community efforts involved a clean up of the Keystone Trail. We will publish the details for this event as they become available. If you have any news items to share like Karen’s, send a note to This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it and we will see that it gets published in the Trail News section.

Missouri River Pedestrian Trail
The next segment of the Omaha Riverfront North trail along Pershing Drive is scheduled to begin construction in the late summer of 2007. The trail ties into last year’s segment at the intersection of Pershing Drive (North River Road) and Ponca Hills Road and then heads north to the Washington County line. This two-mile project was originally scheduled for completion in 2007 but property acquisition issues will delay the completion until sometime in 2008. This final link of Riverfront North trail will afford riders and runners some beautiful views of the Missouri River valley along with some steep and rolling terrain. The construction of this connector will link the Missouri River Trail to the Boyer Chute Trail at this location. Maps for both of these trails will be added to the Riverfront North Trail page on our site next month.