Groundbreaking tomorrow for Mason City bike park

MASON CITY — The groundbreaking ceremony for Mason City’s bike park project is scheduled to take place tomorrow.

The Prairie Rock Trails Bike Park will be located on the southern edge of Lime Creek Nature Center and will link the 450-acre conservation area to Mason City’s new High Line Trail, Riverwalk and 20 miles of existing trails. The project is being made possible through a Destination Iowa state grant and American Rescue Plan Act federal funding awarded to the City of Mason City and Cerro Gordo County.

Councilman and mayor pro-tem Paul Adams says the groundbreaking is a big step forward in the project.  “It’s an exciting time for Mason City to add to our collection of amenities. We’re expecting a pretty good turnout there. There’s a lot of people involved in this with our North Iowa Human Power Trails group and a lot of local partners both public and private. It should be a good turnout and just a good celebration of the progress that’s been made.”

Adams says the project likely wouldn’t have happened without the Destination Iowa and American Rescue Plan Act funding.  “It gave us the opportunity, the $4+ million in grant money that we received through the state that came from the American Rescue Plan Act funding that Congress passed, to pursue these projects that probably wouldn’t have been able to get done just standalone or by themselves. The Riverwalk is part of that. I know that’s been a big priority of the mayor and the council for a few years now, and when this grant money became available and we were awarded it, it gave us a chance to put all these projects together in one application and really make it an attractive project that would receive the funding.”

The ceremony takes place tomorrow morning at 10:00 AM at the entrance to Zerble’s Trail at 1409 Elm Drive.