Last Saturday, Waukesha County officials cut a ribbon to mark the opening of the first mountain bike trail in the county park system, a 1.5-mile trail in Minooka Park.
The mountain bike trail was built in response to a request from the Waukesha Bike Alliance, a group of bicycling enthusiasts who not only asked for the trails, but volunteered their time to plan and construct the trails and will continue to maintain them. The county contributed labor to build the trails and will soon be posting signs to guide users to the trails.
The trail that opened on Saturday is just the first phase of the project, which will ultimately include a total of five miles of trails. The next phases of the project, which will include medium- and higher-difficulty trails, should be completed in fall 2013 and in 2014.
The county is currently working on master plans for all of its parks, and has completed researching user needs for Minooka, Menomonee and Mukwonago parks. The master-planning process for Eble, Muskego, Naga-Waukee, Nashotah and Ryan parks and Retzer Nature Center is now underway.
One way the county gathers information on user needs is through online surveys. To put in your two cents, visit waukeshacountyparks.com, then click on Master Planning on the right-hand side of the page to access the surveys.
What do you want to know? E-mail your questions to now.you.know@me.com.