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Guest: Zac Wiebe
I’ve had this conversation archived for way too long and in re-listening while editing it today, I thought – how interesting that we are at this strange place with the announcement last week of so much money being rescinded from bike and ped infrastructure, to the amazing 50year project that completed the Poudre River Trail in Larimer Country, Colorado. So I cued it up for edit and it truly highlights what might be an exemplary project.
My guest is Zac Wiebe. He is the planning and resource manager of Larimer County in Colorado.
The Poudre River Trail sounds like the perfect ride for someone who wants the 
scenery of Colorado coupled with great amenities along the way without climbing the Rockies!
As with most long trails – this one covers about 45 miles –the first mile was laid in 1978 and here we are almost 50 years later as Memorial Day weekend saw the final connection to complete it.
It is clear that the commitment to completing this trail took a lot of cooperation among the county, the communities it crosses, and the state. And the way the counties were able to look to their citizens for funding to complete the trail is a lesson other states might want to look at for themselves.
What trails like this can do to unite communities and bring economic benefits as well as recreational pleasure to so many is so worth the efforts.
Here are links to a few of the websites Zac told us about including the Larimer and Weld counties as well as Cotrex – the website that is all-things-trails in Colorado.
You can also let your voice be heard as the reauthorization of the transportation bill is coming up – contact your representatives. You can find an easy-to-navigate link to their offices at bikeleague.org.
Our series about safety begins next week with my conversation with Rachael Maney, the managing director of Bike Law. In addition to the funding that has been withdrawn from biking and walking projects, there are many issues that Rachael helps to unpack about bikes and cars, crashes and the law, and much more.