Sidney City Council hears ideas for trail upgrades

SIDNEY, NE — The Sidney City Council is looking into ways it can make improvements to its trail system. The group took a step in that direction Tuesday, hearing an idea from a design firm. 

RDG Planning and Design's Cary Thomsen gave a presentation. His firm's plan includes connecting the Sidney Deadwood Trail to the trails around the Cabela's Campus. 

Under the plan, the trail would run along Andrew Drive, west of McDonalds and Sapp Bros., and then run east/west between Old Post. Road and Glover Road. 

There would also be a crosswalk across Old Post Road west of Cabela's Drive, connecting the Visitor's Center on the north side to the pond and trails on the south side of Old Post Road. The crosswalk would include a pedestrian activated hawks signal that would temporarily stop traffic. 

Landscaping along the east/west portion of the trail would also be improved.

Another idea brought up was adding bike share stops at the Visitor's Center and in downtown Sidney to give visitors another way from the hotels at the interstate to shops and restaurants in the heart of town. 

Mayor Roger Gallaway provided his thoughts on the idea, referencing conversations he's had with a consultant in the past. 

"He said, 'The interstate. You need to make that thing shine,'" Gallaway said. "He said, 'You need to make that look as nice as possible.' Anything we can do to make Sidney look like a more attractive jumping off point with ultimately the goal of guiding them into town."

The city has over $700,000 to spend on the project which was collected through a voluntary half-cent sales tax when Cabela's was still headquartered in Sidney. Under the agreement with Cabela's, the city can only use the funds to improve the trail system along the Old Post Road corridor. 

Thomsen told the city council the cost for Phase one of the project would cost about $1 million. The city is working with Keep Sidney Beautiful to apply for grants to complete the funding and possibly fund trail improvements elsewhere in town. 

Phase one of the project would include the Deadwood Trail and Cabela's connection, crosswalk and landscaping up to the intersection of the entrance to the Cabela's retail store. 

A further expansion of landscaping and the trail between Glover and Old Post Roads would come in later phases of the project. 

The council took no action on moving forward, as the project is still in the planning phases. The next step is to secure funding for at least phase one of the project.