Popular Trail Segment in Iowa Closed by Vehicle Accident.

[AlanDB]

Single vehicle accident causes trail closure in Linn County

No one was injured in the incident.

www.kcrg.com

Sadly, a garbage truck has taken down an overpass bridge on the popular Cedar Valley Nature Trail in east central Iowa north of Cedar Rapids causing this segment of the trail to be closed indefinitely. This trail which I ride dozens of times each season is very popular. It is designated as part of the Great American Rail Trail so I am sure it will be repaired and reopened as soon as possible, but it is a big disappointment that it will probably be closed much (if not all) of the 2022 riding season.

 

[6zfshdb]

That's too bad Alan. The Cedar Valley Nature Trail has been on my radar as a possible stop for my next trip out to Missouri to ride the Katy Trail. With any luck, a short term detour can be arranged until the bridge is repaired.

What section of the trail do you normally ride? Do you take single day trips or do you stay over somewhere? According to the Traillink.com map, it looks like the closure is around 20 miles north of the Cedar Rapids end of the trail. If that's your usual start point, you could still get in a 40 mile ride for the day.

I suppose you could always start at the Center Point trailhead and ride up toward Evansdale if it isn't too much out of the way to drive there.

 

[fooferdoggie]

just bunny hop over the truck what's the issue? Truck drivers that don't know the height of their trucks shouldn't to be truck drivers.

 

[AlanDB]

I have ridden most of the trail from Solon on the south end up to Evansdale on the north end. The segment from Robins to CenterPoint is closest to where I live, so that is the segment we ride most often and of course that is the segment that got damaged. Because of my wife's health and the fact that she rides a e-trike, we tend to only do day rides ... 25 miles or less round trip. All the trail heads and access points of the Cedar Valley Nature Trail are easily no more than an hour's drive from my home. So we will definitely be using the parts of the trail this summer that are still open.

 

[AlanDB]

In case anyone runs across this thread, I rode this trail on June 7, 2022 and I can report that the overpass bridge has been replaced by the county so this segment of the Cedar Valley Nature trail is open.

 

[mojoe]

Thanks a lot for the update. I'm planning on doing most of the GART next Spring.