The City of Hermantown receives $950,000 grant towards trail project

The City of Hermantown receives $950,000 grant towards trail project

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In 2014, the City of Hermantown created a master plan for a trail wide system that links Hermantown to neighboring cities and trails.

Now, over a decade later, the Greater Minnesota Regional Parks and Trails Commission has granted the City of Hermantown $950,000 to advance the project along.

“We’re going to construct about 2.5 miles of trails with this new grant, and once that’s completed, we’d have almost 8 miles of trails going throughout the extent of Hermantown. We’re going to continue to work with the cities of proctor and Duluth to move that trail system over to the west, get it into the city of proctor, and eventually down into Duluth as well,” said Eric Johnson, community development director for the City of Hermantown.

Johnson says the grant money helps combat rising construction costs, which have more than doubled since the beginning of the project.

“When we first started doing the trails, it was about $100 a lineal foot. And now it’s well over $200, almost $250 a lineal foot. So, we do have other multiple funding sources available to us. But obviously, with grants like this, it helps us stretch those dollars a lot further than we would have had just working with the recreation initiative,” said Johnson.

The grant given by the Greater Minnesota Regional Parks and Trails Commission also shortens the project’s timeline.

“What I originally had hoped is by somewhere in mid 2030s, we’d be able to have this system done. So, between these grants and the community recreation initiative, which the residents of Hermantown voted on in 2022, it greatly accelerated this whole process. So really, by the end of 27-28, we hope to be down to the proctor city limits and then continue to move forward in working with our neighbors to the west,” said Johnson.

And as the project moves along, the community gains more opportunities to hit the trails.

“So, the two and a half miles that we’ve built to date, incredibly successful. Really happy with how that’s worked out. Had a lot of positive feedback from our residents. And just hope to continue moving on with the strengths that we’ve developed already and keep expanding the system,” said Johnson.

Click here to follow the City of Hermantown’s trail project’s progress.