Lake Wobegon Trail News

Lake Wobegon Trail Extension
Thanks to the non-stop efforts of Chuck and Pete from Stearns County Parks, it looks like the Wobegon Trail is finally on the agenda and will get completed soon. Not sure how soon, but soon. Here is an excerpt from the SC Times:

Stearns County could join national trails trend with a proposed extension

By Kirsti Marohn • kmarohn@stcloudtimes.com• February 4, 2011


The Lake Wobegon Regional Trail already covers 62 miles of Stearns County, giving bicyclists, walkers and snowmobilers a traffic-free route from Osakis to St. Joseph.

But there’s a critical missing piece, a 7-mile stretch from St. Joseph to the St. Cloud metro area, that many — including Stearns County parks director Chuck Wocken — would love to see completed. Wocken is hoping to jump-start efforts to finish those last seven miles, nicknamed the “Saintly Seven.” He hopes to take advantage of a transportation corridor that already links the two cities: an active railroad line.

“Rails with trails” projects — where a recreational trail runs adjacent to a railroad — are becoming increasingly popular across the United States. Although they sometimes raise questions of safety, advocates say there is no evidence of an increase in accidents or trespassing along such trails.

Extending the Lake Wobegon Trail into St. Cloud would provide 135 miles of continuous separated blacktop trail, the longest in Minnesota and possibly in the nation, Wocken said. It also would give urban St. Cloud residents a connection to the outdoors, he said.

The project has the support of the St. Cloud Area Planning Organization’s bike/pedestrian advisory committee. “It incorporates so many cities together and it just would benefit everyone economically,” said Michelle
Musser, a planner with the APO. “What I hear most is that’s the biggest project that people want in the area.”