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Gateway Feature
COMING SOON: Walking Iron Rails-to-Trails Project
Last March, the Wisconsin and Southern Railroad agreed to abandon about 3 miles of tracks in Dane County extending south from the Wisconsin River, at Sauk City, to a DNR parking lot adjacent to Highway 78. Dane County will take over this corridor and undertake a Rails-to-Trails conversion next spring that will connect to the Great Sauk State Trail via the new pedestrian bridge the two counties have partnered to construct across the Wisconsin River.
Dane County will be submitting a Transportation Alternatives Program (TAP) grant request to fund the project. The Gateway to The Driftless fully supports this project and helped to gather letters of support from our partners and local businesses for submission with the grant request.
This Rails-to-Trails project is the first step in developing the Walking Iron State Trail from the River to Mazomanie where connection to the existing Wolf Run Trail can be made.
The Gateway to The Driftless will continue to work diligently with our partner Villages of Cross Plains, Black Earth and Mazomanie, surrounding Townships, Dane County, and Groundswell Conservancy to complete the year-round multi-use Black Earth Creek Trail that is envisioned from Middleton to the Wisconsin River.