Logan Canyon gateway trail planned

By Charles Geraci

January 12 2007

Local officials have begun planning efforts to build a gateway trail connecting the mouth of Logan Canyon to the popular River Trail near the Stokes Nature Center.

Cache County, Logan city and the U.S. Forest Service are pursuing a partnership to get the trail constructed. The impetus for the idea is the installation of a Logan city water transmission line — currently in the environmental review phase — that would pass through the area, resulting in a pathway that could also be used for a trail.

“The actual routing of our trail will depend on how the environmental assessment comes back,” said Mark Nielsen, the city’s public works director. “What everybody’s hoping is that they will both be the same path, but that isn’t for sure yet.”

Though much of the trail is located in unincorporated Cache County, the Forest Service has jurisdiction over most of the land the trail would cross.

Tim Watkins, Cache County Trails Coordinator, said the Forest Service is “highly supportive” of the project.

The proposed trail would run from the mouth of Logan Canyon near First Dam, beginning at the Bonneville Shoreline Trail segment that connects to Green Canyon and head east, past Stokes Nature Center up to Third Dam.

“It opens up Logan Canyon to pedestrians and cyclists,” Watkins said.

A significant stretch of the trail is already in place, as a road near Logan’s Ray Hugie Hydro Park consists of a paved portion followed by a gravel segment. The trail would then need to be extended, and a foot bridge to cross the Logan River would be required.

“It creates a continuous trail system, as opposed to (having) missing links,” said Russ Akina, Logan’s Parks and Recreation director.

The trail would be extended further until meeting up with a proposed bridge underpass, allowing pedestrians to safely reach the River Trail near the Stokes Nature Center without having to walk across U.S. Highway 89.

Watkins said currently people do not have a safe option to cross the highway.

“They’re playing ‘Frogger’ ... and look left and right and run across the highway,” Watkins said. “That’s a less than ideal situation for the public.”

The county has hired J-U-B Engineers to do a feasibility study and determine the project’s potential costs. Possible sources of funding include a Federal Transportation Enhancement grant administered through the Utah Department of Transportation, county RAPZ tax revenues and UDOT safety funds.

Watkins will present the Cache County Council with the findings on Jan. 23, and a public hearing on the proposed trail will also be held then.

Countywide Planner Wendell Morse told the County Council Tuesday that the trail would be “probably the best trail project that I think we could do in the valley for the entire population.”