Board OKs $620K in latest trail work; Future work remains to get Shooting Star to Austin

Published 10:21 am Wednesday, October 26, 2016

The Shooting Star Trail is another step closer to completion.

At its Tuesday meeting, the Mower County board approved a $620,000 bid from Fitzgerald Excavating to extend the Shooting Star Trail from County Road 52 to County Road 58 on the west side of Highway 56.

The work will extend the 10-foot-wide bituminous pavement trail about 3.16 miles.

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According to Public Works Director Mike Hanson, the work will include excavation and embankment of material, culvert extensions, new culvert construction, grading, aggregate base, plant-mixed non-wearing and wearing courses, erosion control, turf establishment and construction.

Work could start Nov. 7 with culvert extension work and potentially a portion of the trail grading work could be completed this fall. The remaining work will be completed in the spring of 2017 with work expected to be done by June 23, 2017, according to Hanson.

The project is the latest in work to extend the Shooting Star Trail from Rose Creek to Austin. When fully completed, the trail will run along State Highway 56 before jutting west as a bike lane on County Road 58 and then turning north on 28th Street to connect to Austin near the Austin Country Club.

The next phase of the project will include a trail linking the southeast side of Rose Creek with the Rose Creek City Park.

Future work will link the trail with Austin, and Hanson said about 3 miles of trail will be left to construct from this latest portion to Austin.

The Mower County Board, Minnesota Department of Natural Resources Parks and Trails Division, Minnesota Department of Transportation and Prairie Visions partnered on the project.