Olathe recently put the finishing touches on the much-anticipated second phase of its Cedar Creek Trail.
Last week, city leaders officially celebrated the completion of this phase of the trail with a ribbon-cutting ceremony.
This most recent round of work on the Cedar Creek Trail fully connects the nearly 260-acre Lake Olathe Park on the city’s western side to Cedar Lake Park in southern Olathe.
The long-range master plan for the full Cedar Creek Trail project calls it “one of the most significant park and recreation investments in recent years.”
Cedar Creek Trail has been in the works for a while
- Olathe formally started planning the Cedar Creek Trail in 2016, when it adopted a Lake Olathe and Cedar Lake Master Plan.
- The plan was to connect these two amenities, while also updating them to make into so-called “signature destination facilities” (Pg. 7).
- In the years since, Olathe has spent significant time and resources reimagining Lake Olathe and building out the first two phases of the trail.
- The city has also earmarked about $4.5 million over the next two years to replace the Cedar Lake dam and spillway, bringing the system up to modern infrastructure standards (Pg. 164).
First two stages of Cedar Creek Trail cost $3M
- All told, the first two phases of work on the Cedar Creek Trail cost about $3.3 million, with support from a $500,000 grant from the Kansas Department of Transportation.
- Those stages, combined, built out the connection between Cedar Lake and Lake Olathe.
- The trail is 10 feet wide and covers nearly three miles in distance.
More Cedar Creek Trail phases are planned
- In the next few years, Olathe has budgeted another $5 million or so to completely build out what is expected to be a roughly four-mile trail.
- Cody Kennedy, Olathe’s chief communications officer, said the plan is for the Cedar Creek Trail to “connect to Cedar Niles Park.”
- That’s a relatively new county park that is located west of Kansas Highway 7, between 119th and Santa Fe streets, with several miles worth of its own trails for different skill levels.
- Additionally, per the city’s capital improvement plan list, another phase of work expected in 2027 would add a pedestrian bridge to cross Lake Olathe (Pg. 142-143).
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