County OKs more than $700,000 in parks and rec spending

Shawnee County commissioners voted Monday to allocate more than $700,000 for parks and recreation repairs and improvements, including $200,000 to make the Lake Shawnee Trail safer in an area that was the scene of a fatal bicycle accident on a steep hill in 2007.

Commissioners Bob Archer, Bill Riphahn and Kevin Cook voted 3-0 to re-purpose $200,000 the county previously borrowed by issuing bonds for other purposes to enable its public works department to flatten a section of the parks and recreation department’s Lake Shawnee Trail, which runs parallel to S.E. 45th Street.

The work will be done as that department carries out an upcoming project to widen a nearby stretch of S.E. 45th. The county currently has signs posted along the trail directing cyclists to dismount and walk their bikes because the hill’s steepness makes it unsafe.