A new portion of the Poudre River Trail (PRT) is complete and will open for public use this week. The highly anticipated project brings the community one step closer to having full connectivity from Bellvue to Greeley via the PRT.
Thanks to a $2 million Great Outdoors Colorado Connect Initiative Program grant, city and county partners of the Colorado Front Range/Poudre River Trail Initiative project have been able to work toward completing the missing trail gaps of the PRT between Fort Collins and Windsor since 2019.
On Oct. 17, a new half-mile segment of paved trail will connect the Arapaho Bend Natural Area east to the pedestrian underpass at I-25 completed by the Colorado Department of Transportation earlier this year. This segment of trail will allow users in southeast Fort Collins and Timnath to travel between communities east and west of I-25 without having to travel along busy roadways.
“Working on the Poudre River Trail project for many years has been very exciting for our team in park planning and development,” says Greg Oakes, landscape architect and project manager. “Completing this current segment of trail, despite a few delays, is both rewarding and encouraging for city staff and the community. Looking ahead to the completion of the remaining PRT segments in Fort Collins, in collaboration with our regional partners, will be a monumental moment for Northern Colorado.”
The city is now working on Fort Collins’ final segment of the PRT, located west of the Arapaho Bend Natural Area at Rigden Reservoir, and connecting to the existing trail near Colorado State University’s Environmental Learning Center. The construction on this section of paved trail is underway, with completion expected later this year.
To learn more about this project, visit fcgov.com/parkplanning/poudretrail.