Hundreds of local residents have voiced support for creating a new walking and biking path in the Powell area. The challenge now is figuring out a way to turn those wishes into reality.

The Powell Economic Partnership (PEP) has been pushing for the construction of a local “Rails With Trails” pathway over the past couple of years and has begun raising funds to design the trail.

While nothing has been decided, the general concept is to construct a roughly 11-mile paved path from Ralston to Powell to Garland. As envisioned by PEP, the trail would be installed on the south side of U.S. Highway 14A, generally running between the BNSF railroad and the Garland Canal.

PEP Executive Director Rebekah Burns said her organization is currently working to raise roughly $150,000 worth of grants, corporate contributions and donations to cover the design, with $40,000 of that total already in-hand.

“We need surveyed, engineered drawings and we need to hire a design firm that is going to keep the user experience in mind — especially when going through that Powell
corridor,” Burns told the Powell City Council at its Dec. 16 meeting.

She indicated the design work is critical, “because we need to know, number one, is this even really possible?”

As just one example, the professional plans will not only map out a potential route, but help determine just how much it might cost.

Burns said the path would likely be 15-22 feet wide and need wildlife-friendly fencing on either side, to create separation from irrigation district access roads and the railroad. The trail could theoretically be made up of hard-packed soil, wood chips or other materials, but based on the feedback the county gathered on a potential biking/walking path in 2021, Burns believes people “really do want a paved pathway that’s safe.”

In her remarks to the council, the PEP leader said she’s often asked why pathways qualify as an economic development project. She says it’s a way to help recruit and retain a viable, educated workforce and bring business to Powell.

Local residents have long expressed support for pathways, she said, and national data shows that they factor into workers’ decisions on where to live.

“Providing walking and biking pathways increases the quality of life and health and wellbeing of a community,” Burns wrote to the council.

A PEP presentation also makes the case that developing the trail could lead to additional tourism and spending in Powell. One slide says there’s “national support” for the project, noting that residents of 41 different states, the District of Columbia and Canada signed a PEP petition backing the trail.

However, 638 of the 1,000-plus signatories, or 64%, came from people in Park County, which shows “a ton of local support,” Burns said.

The petition, hosted by the Rails to Trails Conservancy, calls for Powell and Park County to “invest” in the trail. The hope is to make the Garland-to-Ralston route a part of The Great American Rail Trail — a plan to eventually connect Washington, D.C. to Washington state via walking and biking paths. 

Making Powell’s portion a reality will not only take money, but also coordination with a host of landowners, irrigation districts, the BNSF Railway and various government agencies; Burns said that work is well underway.

While some people currently use the irrigation district’s access roads along the Garland Canal as an unofficial walking route, “having a separate pathway will allow locals to still reap the benefits of pathways without getting in the way of important irrigation work,” PEP’s presentation says. It adds that an official trail would improve the experience and open the door to more users — such as serving as a safe route to school for rural students.

When it comes to plotting a course through the City of Powell, “it does get a little precarious,” Burns said, as there’s not much available space along the railroad. “But our planners assure us that there are plenty of options.”

That includes potentially having the route follow North or South streets.

While PEP’s petition encourages Powell and Park County to invest in the trail, Burns didn’t request anything from the council at last week’s meeting, saying she just wanted to put the project on their radar.