2011: The Completion of a Major Rail Trail in the Hawkeye State

April 30, 2011

In the central region of Iowa, a paved recreational trail between the cities of Ankeny and Woodward was formally opened with considerable fanfare. The final portion of this trail to be completed was a bridge crossing the Des Moines River and located near the city of Madrid.

The High Trestle Trail, which follows the route of a Union Pacific Railroad freight line that had run between Ankeny and Woodward, courses through Polk, Story, Boone, and Dallas Counties in the Hawkeye State. The trail owes its name to a type of open-frame railroad bridge that once existed in that vicinity of the Des Moines River.

The High Trestle Trail has since been used extensively for hiking, running, and biking. It has become a route for horseback riding as well, but only along those segments between the city of Slater and the Des Moines River and between that river and Woodward. (Horseback riding is not allowed on the bridge.)

On the day before the inauguration of the trail, an article in the Des Moines Register highlighted how this hard-surface pathway was already resonating with a wide range of individuals. Mike Kilen reported in this article, “On a recent tour along the High Trestle Trail: An 87-year-old walker hunts asparagus while young runners train; artists are inspired as are nearby tavern owners; cyclists buzz past and a tearful retiree recalls the joy that bicycling gave his late wife.”

In December of that year, reporter Daniel P. Kinney of the Des Moines Register largely focused on the High Trestle Trail’s bridge (shown in the accompanying photo taken in July 2011). “Bridge openings are usually ho-hum affairs barely worthy of a paragraph in the back of the local newspaper,” Kinney stated in this article. “But they don’t make a lot of bridges like the one on the 25-mile [40.2-kilometer] High Trestle Trail between Woodward and Ankeny.”

Kinney then delved into further detail. “The bridge, which opened in April after eight years of planning, stands 13 stories tall and spans a half mile [0.8 kilometers] across the Des Moines River near Madrid,” he reported. “People nicknamed the [structure] the ‘Art Bridge’ as a series of steel frames twist around the bridge to create a tunnel effect.” Kinney added, “Blue bulbs light the bridge at night and give the appearance of something out of a Pink Floyd laser rock show at the old Iowa Science Center planetarium.”

Kinney concluded this article by addressing the development of the High Trestle Trail in its entirety. “The project cost $15 million, most of which was underwritten by grants and a few private sponsors,” he noted. “Mother Nature threw in the breathtaking Iowa landscape for free.”

Photo Credit: Phil Roeder (https://www.flickr.com/people/88876166@N00) – licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/deed.en

For more information on the High Trestle Trail, please check out https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_Trestle_Trail