MUSCATINE, Iowa — Costs will force the Muscatine County Trails Committee to reroute plans for a bike path on Stewart Road.

Committee member Larry Koehrsen said Monday that the group would pursue building lanes on each side of Stewart Road only if there was “strong support” for it as a route from Musser Park to Wiggens Road.

Koehrsen said County Engineer Keith White had estimated costs for the project since the Committee met with supervisors in January.

Those costs, Koehrsen said, range from “somewhat higher than we anticipated to a whole lot more than what we anticipated, so it looks like there is a significant shortfall.”

White figured the lanes could cost approximately:

 $1.51 million for 6-foot concrete shoulders

 $1.04 million for 4-foot                         

concrete shoulders

 $845,000 for 4-foot asphalt shoulders

The Committee has obtained a $500,000 federal grant to help pay for a route along the Mississippi River levee.

“There are already bikers on that road, and this would make it safer,” said Supervisor Esther Dean, who said she would support 4-foot asphalt shoulders.

Supervisor Kas Kelly also voiced support for the Stewart Road path, but was undecided whether it needed 4- or 6-foot shoulders.

White said, however, “I’m not convinced they (Iowa Department of Transportation) would allow a 4-foot shoulder being used as a trail.”

Kelly said, “I think whether you take that trail somewhere else, people are going to take it … because we do have a lot of people who ride that way to work.”

Other supervisors did not feel Stewart Road was an appropriate route for bicyclists.

Chairman Wayne Shoultz said Stewart Road is among the roadways with the most accidents in Muscatine County.

“Stewart Road is not a good route in my mind because it’s probably one of the busiest roads in Muscatine County,” said Shoultz, who lives just outside Fruitland.

“That’s an extremely busy road,” Supervisor Tom Furlong agreed.

Supervisor Dave Watkins added, “Not only is there a lot of traffic on that, there’s a lot of semi and truck traffic.”

Watkins said there is a possibility the county could obtain federal funds for permanent bike lanes when Stewart Road is repaved in approximately 10 years.

The Trails Committee has until Sept. 30 to complete design of an alternate route in order to maintain the federal grant.

Travel along the levee as the Committee originally envisioned was not possible because of opposition from adjacent industries.