COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa (AP) – A conservation official says a recreation trail between Council Bluffs and nearby Neola could be ready by 2017. Mark Shoemaker, executive director of Pottawattamie County’s conservation board, says design work will begin this year and construction will start next year for a trail between Council Bluffs and Weston. The Council Bluffs Nonpareil reports that work will expand to Underwood in 2016 and Neola in 2017, which is a stretch of 16 miles.

A $1.1 million grant from the Iowa West Foundation was recently announced for the design and construction of the 10-foot-wide concrete trail that would be parallel to a county road. It will require a match that county officials are already trying to fill.