For more than a month, the Dallas County Board of Supervisors have been considering a request made by a local landowner to vacate a portion of a road, and they recently decided to not go through with it.

The road in question was 288th Trail, located just east of the City of Adel. Doug Nichols is the property owner who requested the vacation, and he spoke to the Board at each public hearing regarding the issue. Nichols says the section of road hasn’t experienced through traffic in 18 years, ever since the bridge connecting it with Adel was deemed unsafe for travel. He wanted the road vacated so he could maintain it himself and preserve its historical significance, as well as keeping motorists off the road that typically tear it up.

The Supervisors, however, had many concerns, mostly revolving around the bridge. Half of the bridge is within Adel City limits, while the rest is County property, so they felt vacating the road would make it difficult for County crews to access the bridge if they needed to service it. The City of Adel also opposed the vacation, as they are unsure of their future eastern expansion plans that may involve 288th Trail. The City is currently conducting a study on the area and how it could be utilized for future growth, and they felt it was important to keep all options open. Dallas County Engineer Al Miller also felt there were too many unknowns right now to safely make a decision to vacate the road.

In the end, the Board elected to decline the request, though they left the door open for possibly revisiting the issue in the future. They also tasked Miller with researching costs and procedures for possibly repairing, repurposing, or destroying the bridge, which is currently on the National Registry of Historic Places.