Kingfisher Trails held a public meeting on March 12th at 5:30 pm. This meeting was hosted by Kingfisher Trails, represented by Vice President John Gooden. The group met at the Kingfisher Visitor Center downtown at the Chamber of Commerce. At this meeting, John discussed many elements of adding a new feature to the Kingfisher Trails.
They are applying for a grant from the Recreational Trails Program of Oklahoma. It will provide federal funding, a matched 20% of local funds, and donations. The feature would include adding a sidewalk along Will Rogers Drive. It would run along the side of the public library and extend through the stop light a little past El Charros if granted. Additionally, they plan to make it a safer route for children to access the public library.
Pedestrian crosswalk lights would need to be added by the stop light on Main Street by McDonald’s. There would also be retaining walls placed on the grassy sections by the tag agency to promote easier vehicle and pedestrian traffic flow.
Kingfisher has been recognized around the State of Oklahoma as a leader in bringing trails and open spaces to the community.
Over the past 10 years, Kingfisher Trails, a local non-profit citizens group has won eight grants for the construction of trails and sidewalks in Kingfisher. Over three miles of trails have been constructed. These trail segments now form a unified loop around the community.
Currently, each public school is included, and the trails are designed to follow the natural course of the water flow around the town. They have started on the west, where the schools are located. From there, they extend into the areas on the north and east where the community is bordered by creeks and where the public owns parks and bottomland with large trees and open space.
Public input on this project would be ideal for the grant submission. If you would like to ask any questions or voice any concerns or comments, you can contact John Gooden at his email JOHN@GOODENSTUDIOS.COM.
Photos and story: AAK Gracie Fuksa
Maps: Kingfisher Trails
