People who like to walk, run or ride their bicycle in the northeastern part of Fort Dodge will have a new safer location for doing all that.

That new option will be a 10-foot wide paved trail on the east side of North 22nd Street between roughly the 1600 block and the 2500 block. This will be a great addition to the already well-developed trail system for two reasons: safety and connectivity.

Safety is perhaps the most compelling reason for building this trail link. This link will get people out of the road in an area with no sidewalks. North 22nd Street is about 40-feet wide up until a spot in the 1600 block where the street curves slightly to the northeast. There, the road narrows significantly and there is no sidewalk on either side. That means pedestrians are in the street with the vehicles. That’s never a good combination.

The new trail link will also increase the connectivity to the trail system. It’s already possible to go from Iowa Central Community College to John F. Kennedy Memorial Park entirely on trails. It took more than a decade of planning and work to accomplish that. This community’s trail system is something special.

The new trail to be built next year will connect three existing trails on the city’s northeast side. You might call it a trail loop although it looks more like a rectangle when sketched out on a map.

We must acknowledge that there will be some inconvenience to our neighbors up on North 22nd Street while this new trail is being built. Mailboxes will have to be moved. Trees that have stood for decades may be trimmed significantly or even cut down.

We believe the benefits of this trail will outweigh those problems. We look forward to seeing it completed.