By Dewey Terrill
JC Post
Work to repair the Riverwalk Trail that runs from Fort Riley along the north side of the Republican River north Junction City is complete. Craig Bender, Military Affairs Council Director for the Chamber of Commerce, said the river and rain washed away a portion of the trail and was going to become dangerous. "I started reaching out to the Kansas National Guard. They have an engineer unit ( DET 1 242nd Engineer Company) and I knew that they could do annual training sometimes to help communities out so I reached out to them."
( Photos courtesy of Craig Bender )
They spent about a week and a half working on the project, said Bender. "Coordinating with David Walker who provided us all the materials, moved about 400 tons of rock and cleared out a brand new trail." It was moved back from the river about 75 feet and is designed to keep people from accidentally falling in the river." They put berms up at the front and back entrance to force people on the new route. So they cleared it out with skid steers and chainsaws." Rock was then brought in from a quarry.
The site includes a stretch of about 200 feet located approximately 100 feet east of U.S. 77.
