We had a super fun time at the Samson Trail Ribbon-Cutting Event on Wednesday, Oct. 9th, with kids from Barbara Morgan Elementary School and Payette Lakes Middle School participating in the ribbon cutting with McCall Mayor Bob Giles and Valley County Commissioner Elt Hasbrouck.
The new walking and biking trail/safe route to schools was planned and executed by Dave Bingaman, recreation planner for Valley County Parks & Recreation, with strong support from Valley County Pathways, St. Luke’s FitOne, and the City of McCall.
The new trail is about 1 mile long, from the Deinhard junction by the Payette Lakes Middle School and Barbara Morgan Elementary School running south to Elo Road. Initially, we thought the $250,000 state Children’s and Pedestrian Safety Program grant would cover 2 miles of trail construction. VC Pathways paid $30,000 to Breckon Land Design to cover design and engineering costs for that initial 2 miles, going south to Pearson Lane. But when the county went through the details with Falvey Construction, the total cost of the 1-mile section increased to $311,000 total. VC Pathways picked up the extra costs to cover the construction bill.
Valley County Pathways also received a $25,000 grant from St. Luke’s Fit One that was directly allocated to the construction costs. VCP thanks all of our donors for helping make this project a reality!
The City of McCall’s East Deinhard Lane pathway project completes the non-motorized pathway to the Idaho 55 junction and also creates new sections of pathway along Idaho 55 in that vicinity in partnership with the Idaho Transportation Department. Pedestrian safety and ADA-accommodations were added to the East Deinhard pathway, city officials said. The East Deinhard pathway also connects to the Samson Trail walking and biking trail, as does the Spring Mountain Blvd. paved pathway, providing a seamless transition to McCall pathways for walkers, runners and bikers.
The following quotes are from our press release, issued the day of the ribbon-cutting.
“This is exciting to complete our first project with state grant funds from the state Children and Pedestrian Safety Program, and it’s pretty obvious that this new trail is going to provide a safe route to the schools right here in McCall with a new detached pathway along a busy street with over 1,300 vehicle trips per day,” said Elt Hasbrouck, Valley County Commissioner.
“We appreciate the partnership with Valley County Pathways, providing the essential funding for project design and engineering, and contributing to the overall construction cost of the project. We look forward to securing more grant funds for Samson Trail Phase II to Pearson Lane.”
“This project has been three years in the making. We appreciate working together with the state, Valley County Parks & Recreation, St. Luke’s and the City of McCall to make it all possible,” said Steve Stuebner, Board President of Valley County Pathways. “It takes a lot of partnerships and a great spirit of working together in our community to create these winning projects. We look forward to working on Samson Trail Phase 2 and eventually connecting to the Carefree subdivision area with walking and biking pathways and safe routes to schools.”
“FitOne is excited to be part of this impactful project in the McCall community,” said Alissa McKinley, Race Director at FitOne for St. Luke’s. “By funding critical infrastructure that promotes health and wellness, we are helping to create an environment where residents can lead more active, healthier lives. This grant reflects our ongoing commitment to investing in the communities we serve and supporting sustainable initiatives that improve overall well-being. We are excited to see the positive changes this project will bring to McCall.”
Valley County Parks & Recreation and VC Pathways have applied for grant funds for Samson Trail phase 2, which would extend the walking and biking trail another mile south to Pearson Lane. The City of McCall has a number of pathway projects on tap in the future, including a pathway along Wooley Avenue from Davis Street junction to the raised boardwalk.
Overall, VC Pathways has a vision to build more than 70 miles of pathways to connect the communities of Cascade, Donnelly, McCall and New Meadows and to popular outdoor destinations like Ponderosa Park, Brundage Mountain, Jug Mountain Ranch, Lake Cascade State Park, Tamarack Resort and Gold Fork Hot Springs. Our future plans also include a detached pathway along Eastside Drive next to Payette Lake, a greenbelt on the west side of Lake Cascade, and pathways running south from Lake Fork to Donnelly.
We also want to thank Breckon Land Design, Falvey Construction, Samson Trail neighbors, our friends at the Local Highway Technical Assistance Council (LHTAC), Kurt Wolf, Director of McCall Parks & Recreation, Dave Bingaman, Valley County Parks & Recreation, McCall Mayor Bob Giles, all three Valley County Commissioners, Laura Crawford, Tiffany Dobbs and Alissa McKinley with St. Luke’s, Valerie Berg, principal of Barbara Morgan Elementary School, and Cheyenne Petri with the Payette Lakes Middle School.
See more at valleycountypathways.org.
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