Rural county declines to vote on path for long-sought hike-bike trail

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06-05-2025

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On the steps of the Cass County Courthouse, a debate broke out Tuesday after the county board failed to give final approval to a route for a proposed hike-bike trail across the eastern Nebraska county. (Paul Hammel/Nebraska Examiner)
PLATTSMOUTH, Nebraska — It's back to the drawing board for a long-sought recreation trail across Cass County that would connect bike-hike trails from Lincoln and Omaha.
On Tuesday, the Cass County Board failed to vote on a preferred route for the trail, reversing course from last fall when the five-member board — with a slightly different makeup — voted 3-2 to approve an interlocal agreement with trail developers.
That agreement included affirmation of a 10-mile route recommended after a year's worth of public meetings, a route that paralleled mostly sparsely traveled gravel roads between the end of the Mo-Pac Trail at Wabash and the end of a trail just south of the Platte River near South Bend.
Uncertain future
It left uncertain what route, if any, the county board might approve, and whether $8.3 million in state funds allocated by the Legislature to help build it would be expended by a deadline at the end of 2028.
Supporters and opponents of a recreation trail proposed to link other trails from Omaha and Lincoln again filled the Cass County Board meeting room on Tuesday. (Paul Hammel/Nebraska Examiner)
Trail supporters, who have worked two decades to provide a connector trail across the rural county, expressed bitter disappointment after leaving the nearly one-hour long meeting, with one terming what had happened 'a cluster.'
'I'm not an attorney, but I don't know how the county can back out (of its previous agreement) without some legal consequences,' said Julie Harris, executive director of one pro-trail group, Bike-Walk Nebraska.
But one trail opponent, who owns land along the preferred route selected in November, said a delay was appropriate.
'I think they should prove that they have the funding before they start construction,' said Judy Stroy of Murdock.
She referred to a gap in financing the preferred route for the trail, referred to as 'Route D.' It has been estimated to cost about $15 million, about $7 million less than what the state has contributed.
Donor support
During the meeting, Mike Sousek of the Lower Platte South Natural Resources District, which is developing the trail, said he had obtained a signed agreement with a Mo-Pac Trail Alliance supporting the Cass County connector that those groups would cover the gap in funding with private donations.
There are no plans, Sousek told commissioners, to utilize property tax dollars to build the trail. He added that he expected the final cost of Route D would come in at less than $15 million, perhaps in the $10-12 million range.
Sousek said that recent discussions had reduced the number of driveways that the trail would cross from nine to three. He said that Route D — which roughly follows 334th Street, a north-south, gravel road — had been picked because it features the fewest residences and crosses the fewest driveways.
But despite those assurances, commissioners failed to approve or reaffirm a route for the trail Tuesday — a vote that had been postponed from April so that commissioners, including two new members who joined the board after the November election, could obtain more information about the exact route.
A motion to approve Route D failed due to the lack of a second, as did a motion to postpone the vote again until May 20. Commissioners on Tuesday made no other motions for alternative routes. Three other paths had been studied by a consultant.
Lack of action
Cass County Attorney Chris Perrone said that despite the lack of action on Tuesday, the interlocal agreement between the county and NRD remains in effect, and that commissioners, at a future meeting, could move to approve a pathway for it. The county is not contributing financially to the project, but because the trail would utilize county right of way — ditches along county roads — it must approve a route.
'(The board) is not saying 'no' to the trail … you're just saying you're not ready to pick a route,' Perrone said to a packed meeting room of trail friends and foes.
Sousek, of the NRD, told commissioners after the vote that he needed some guidance about what the problems were with Route D, the route recommended by a consultant and seemingly backed by the board in November.
'What is the problem with Route D?' he asked. 'I'd like a direction?'
Sousek noted that the NRD had spent 'a considerable amount of money and time' considering four routes for the trail over the past year.
Commissioner concerns
Eventually, Commissioner Terry Dasher, who was elected in November, said he had visited the preferred route with a tape measure and was concerned that the 8-foot-wide limestone trail would not 'fit' in the roadside ditches.
Commissioner Duane Murdoch, who voted 'no' on the interlocal agreement in November, also voiced concerns about who would be liable if a bicyclist had an accident on the trail due to ruts from heavy equipment crossing it or from flying corn stalks from nearby harvesting equipment.
Cass County Board member Dan Stohlmann, also elected in November, spoke against Route D as well.
The discussion then turned to why the most westward pathway, Route A, wasn't selected. That route, which generally follows Nebraska Highway 1 from Elmwood to Murdock and then north to South Bend.
Commissioners said it would give more economic opportunity to Murdock because it would not bypass the town. There also appeared to be a wider right of way on which to build a trail, said critics of Route D.
Costliest route
Route A was projected to be the most expensive, at $24 million, and Sousek said it was rejected due to high cost, the prospect that some property tax dollars might be necessary to complete it and higher traffic counts. There also was an issue of whether the State of Nebraska would allow the use of its right of way, he said.
Eventually, Commissioner Alex DeGarmo, the chair of the board and the only clear supporter of Route D, was able to convince fellow commissioners to form a subcommittee to try and work out an acceptable route. Murdoch, a trail skeptic, also was appointed to the subcommittee.
Harris, of Bike-Walk Nebraska, said that in her mind, many of the issues raised by critics of the trail had already been asked and answered, and that commissioners, over the past month, had plenty of opportunities to ask additional questions and had not.
'I'm very frustrated,' she said. 'I just think we need to regroup and talk about a path forward.'
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