Construction starts on Mason Trail

By Dan MacArthur
Fossil Creek Current

Construction has started on a new trail providing safer and more direct north-south travel for pedestrians and bicyclists.

The first phase of the Mason Corridor Trail is scheduled for completion in the spring. The 3.5-mile segment will expand Fort Collins' trails network by connecting the Spring Creek Trail to the future Fossil Creek Trail three-quarters of a mile south of Harmony Road.

Shared by cyclists and pedestrians, the trail will be within the Burlington Northern and Santa Fe railroad corridor. At-grade crossings will be located at Harmony, Horsetooth, Drake and Swallow roads. City officials hope to secure additional funding to eventually replace those crossings with underpasses and complete the second section of the trail extending north to Laurel Street.

The trail portion of the Mason Transportation Corridor was part of the Building Community Choices quarter-cent sales tax issue approved by voters in 1997. Voters in 2002 and 2003 rejected proposed tax increases to, in part, finance other elements of the corridor proposal, including a bus rapid transit system and restoring Mason and Howes streets to two-way traffic downtown.

In addition to the city sales-tax revenues, the $2.7-million first phase also received funding from Great Outdoors Colorado, the Colorado Department of Transportation, the Federal Highway Administration and the North Front Range Metropolitan Planning Organization.

Designing the extension of the trail to Laurel Street will cost nearly $270,000. Funding for that second phase also will be provided by grants from the latter three agencies. The city is seeking further funding for design and construction of a railroad underpass, creating a connection to the Natural Resources Research Center and Colorado State University Veterinary Teaching Hospital.