Thursday night, several Jefferson and Greene County residents attended the final presentation to connect the City of Jefferson with trails.

Iowa State University Landscape Architecture and Community and Regional Planning student Zoey Mauck presented a comprehensive plan of connecting the entire city. She used several methods for her final product, which included: infrastructure preferences, walking trails to the golf course and the casino, a biking/walking loop around the city and making the downtown area accessible to everyone.

She included several aspects to incorporate for a variety of ways to connect areas of the city. Those aspects included: biking lanes, multi-use paths, shoulder paths, neighborhood boulevards and improved crossings. In total her plan included 17 miles of more connections throughout the city. Mauck talked about her favorite part of the over three-month project.

“One of the meetings, I had a lot of great feedback. It was suppose to be a smaller meeting and I walked in and I think there were about 20 people here. At first I was a little nervous because I wasn’t really sure what to expect. But everyone was excited and was here for a really good reason. I think just having that much support and people that were backing me the whole way was the best part.”

City Council Member Matt Wetrich attended the meeting and he described what he thought of the final product.

“I’d love to see the vast majority of this get implemented here. Connecting our community with all the great things we keep adding to it, and the new directions we’re trying to grow. With a small community like this by having pedestrian-connectivity is really important.”

While no costs were involved, the plan will now be handed over the the parks and rec department, where Director Vicky Lautner said it will be discussed by the parks and rec board and recommends may be made to the city council.