ALTOONA

What can bike trails do for your community

Jonathan Krueger
jnkrueger@registermedia.com

Just as riding a bike trail is good for people’s health, communities along the trails are finding the new traffic is good for them financially.

Friends of the Chichaqua Trail hosted an event in Bondurant to promote opportunities the trails can bring to the community and its businesses.

Chance and Cole Collisin of Bondurant take their scooters for a spin on the Chichaqua Trail.

Michael Gould of Iowa Economic Development said communities need to address three areas with bike trails, including individual community development, commerce development and unified trail development.

“Focusing on individual community development creating a sense of place in each town,” Gould said. “Communities have to do an analysis of themselves and they need to figure out what they can do to attract more people to the community.”

Gould said that having people spend money in your community is also key to developing as a bike trail town.

“You have these people that are riding through your community and they have money with them and they are going to spend it somewhere,” Gould said. “Why not in your community?”

Gould’s third priority is to have all the communities on a trail working together to develop the trails.

Lee Coons of Raccoon River Valley Bike in Perry was on hand to explain how the city of Perry got the community on board and how the trail through his community has been successful.

Coons said that RAGBRAI coming to Perry was key to getting the residents of Perry on board with the bike trail.

“When they saw how successful it was it got people turned around and they realized the bikers aren’t bad people and the trail isn’t a bad thing,” Coons said.

Coons and the city of Perry has implemented kiosks and signage around town to tell bikers what is going on in the city and where they can find restaurants or other local businesses.

“It is amazing how many bikers want to get off their bike and explore your town if they know what you have to offer,” Coons said. “It is very easy to identify if you are welcome or not welcome when you enter the door. Getting your retailers and businesses to buy into the whole thing is a challenge.”

Andrea Boulton, statewide trails coordinator of the Iowa Natural Heritage Foundation, echoed the need for community support with bike trail systems.

“If there is one thing that I stress when I go into a community that wants to build a trail to bring people to the community it is that it won’t happen unless the people of your town embrace it and support it,” Boulton said.

See more on bike trails around East Polk County on Page 1B