BILLINGS — With over 70 miles of trails in the Magic City, it's safe to say that Billings residents love their parks. Two new trails are opening up this year in two very popular locations.
Riverfront Park has been a hidden gem in the city for decades, but the old park has a new look on its eastern side.
“You can see a couple of the big cottonwoods laying down over there that they had to take down,” said Billings superintendent of parks, Mike Pigg on Thursday.
Grinding up the buckthorn shrubs and cottonwood trees that covered the area was just the first step in paving a nearly mile-long new trail.
“We got a couple of grants that allowed us to come through and extend the trail back from the eastern edge of Riverfront, all the way to the Washington Street Bridge streets,” Pigg said.
Funded solely through grants, Pigg said that the first section of the half-a-million-dollar trail should be paved by June.
“It’s a true multipurpose trail so it’ll be ten feet wide. So bikers and walkers and joggers can all use it at the same time,” said Piig.
The start of the handicap-accessible trail will begin on Washington Street, where a bridge will connect parkgoers to the future site of a parking lot.
“There’s the thought that we want to do the marathon loop, you know connect the Rims to the river and get all that going so there’s plans in the works for all of that,” Pigg said.
It's an ambitious plan, similar to the one that nonprofit Billings TrailNet is working towards on the Rims.
“It’ll just go from Zimmerman Trail all the way to that stub right on the west side of the airport roundabout,” said executive director of Billings TrailNet, Kristi Drake.
The nearly three million dollar trail was funded through grants and donations and work on the three-mile-long Skyline Trail began just this week.
“They’re moving the dirt from the airport over to here because they’re just excavating over there for that project and repurposing the dirt over here,” Drake said.
She's hoping the handicap-accessible trail will be completed by this fall.
“There will be three designated parking areas here, a truck turnout, a couple of turnouts. We’re hoping there’s going to be some amenities also,” said Drake.
One of those amenities includes a couple of bike repair stations. Drake said the Skyline Trail will connect residents from Zimmerman Park all the way to Swords and even Coulson Park.
“It’s going to give us 16 miles of continuous trail,” Drake said.
And like Pigg, Drake hopes all these trails will eventually be connected to others all across the city.
“What better view than right here of the entire city,” said Drake.
You can learn more about Billings TrailNet by visiting Billings TrailNet - Trails For People | Billings, MT - Billings TrailNet.
