By Brian Ojanpa
Free Press Staff Writer
MANKATO —
Although the new Minneopa Trail won’t be officially christened until an Oct. 2 ribbon-cutting ceremony, the word is out that the route has opened.
“We had a ‘soft’ opening for people a couple of weeks ago,” Blue Earth County Engineer Al Forsberg said.
“Actually, we couldn’t keep people off it.”
The $1.1 million biking and hiking trail linking Sibley and Minneopa parks finished on schedule and with an upper hand on the logistical hurdles it presented.
“This was a very challenging project to design and construct,” Forsberg said, citing the trail’s abutting highway and rail line plus the rocks, trees and sloping terrain along its route.
The trail also features two bridges and a tunnel.
The span, which connects to the Red Jacket and Minnesota River trails, is regarded as a key part of an expanding regional trail system. North Mankato and Nicollet County are working on a trail to the Judson Bottom Road and Minnemishinona Falls park.
The Minneopa Trail was in the planning stage for more than a decade and its funding includes an $800,000 federal grant, $136,000 from the Department of Natural Resources and a $50,000 grant from the Minnesota Department of Transportation, with more than $400,000 coming from the county’s parks fund.
Forsberg said the trail has been getting positive reviews, particularly from bicycle enthusiasts.
