MARSHALL — Recreational trails in southwest Minnesota are getting plenty of traffic, according to a trail plan being completed by the Southwest Regional Development Commission.

The drawback: trails across the region are limited to isolated segments.

“It’s very disconnected. Everything is kind of in its own little area,” said Chris Webb, transportation planner with the SRDC.

Webb said the SRDC hopes its trail plan can help build support for connecting trails. The Casey Jones State Trail was one of the plan’s highest-priority trail corridors, he said.

On Tuesday, Webb gave Lyon County Commissioners an update on the regional trails plan the SRDC has been working on over the past couple of years. The project was funded partly through a grant from the U.S. Economic Development Administration, and partly with matching funds from eight area counties.

“Now as the process is coming to a close and we’re kind of wrapping things up and have our final trail plan to send back to the EDA, we’re doing a quick presentation to all of our county partners,” Webb said.

Webb said the process of creating the trails plan included more than 25 interviews and focus group sessions with trail groups, city officials and county engineers in southwest Minnesota.

“We were very intentional. We wanted to make sure we got people or groups from each county in our region,” Webb said. The SRDC wanted to hear what the stakeholders’ concerns and goals were for regional trails.

At the same time, Webb said, “We looked at what our current trails are like.” There are a number of smaller trails spread out throughout the nine-county area, he said.

In the summer of 2023, the SRDC placed trail counters on a total of nine different trails in the region. Of that group, trail loops in Worthington and Luverne, and the Camden Regional Trail near Marshall and Lynd, each had an average of more than 100 users per day. Based on a survey of 238 trail users and visitors, area recreational trails also encouraged spending for food, lodging, entertainment and more in southwest Minnesota communities.

However, Webb said, existing trails in the region weren’t very well-connected.

“Part of our plan was to look at, what would a regional trail look like, and where would the corridors go?” he said. The SRDC looked at factors like trail usage and local support for trails.

Webb said the regional trails plan identified the Casey Jones State Trail as its highest-priority trail corridor. Currently, there are segments of the trail that go from Woodstock to Pipestone, and a segment near Lake Shetek, that could be connected, he said.

Another high-priority trail corridor would run from Jackson to the Okoboji and Spirit Lake area in Iowa, Webb said.

When the regional trails plan is completed, the goal is to build support for regional trail connections.

“You’re looking at some really, really big projects,” Webb said. It would take legislative support to make them a reality.