Photo Credit: Bedford Reinforced Plastics
At 185 acres, Hickory Hill Park is the largest park in the eastern Iowa community of Iowa City. The park is an urban oasis for the city’s 76,500 residents and an additional 31,500 University of Iowa students. While the park features an extensive trail network, it has lacked a main north-to-south pathway due to several waterways and deep ravines, preventing walkers, joggers, and bikers from accessing the full length of the trail system.
To provide full access, the city’s parks and recreation department opted to connect the primary North Star Trail with four other trails in the park. Bridging these gaps—literally—would create a single, continuous trail that stretched from the north end to the south end of the park. The solution required the installation of trail bridges over the low points, creeks, and areas affected by erosion and flood damage.
The city’s goal with the trail bridges was twofold: to install aesthetically pleasing bridges to enhance the trail experience and to use materials that would last for decades in the Iowa climate.