RAPID CITY - Two public meetings are scheduled in December and January designed for the public to tell the city how to spend $1.7 million in federal greenway funds.

The city hasn't determined how to use the $1.7 million, which was part of $1.3 billion designated for South Dakota in the 2005 federal transportation bill, but the funds are limited to greenway, pedestrian and bike path expansion projects.

"We're really making an effort to get public opinion," Alderwoman Karen Gundersen Olson said. "It's a great little pool of money and we're saying, 'Here's your chance to bring forward what you think it should be used for.'"

The meetings are Thursday, Dec. 6, and Tuesday, Jan. 8.

Recommendations and suggestions will be forwarded to the public works committee for discussion on Feb. 12. After a project is selected, the city must provide an 18 percent match, probably through 2012 funds.

Council members began talking about greenway funds in late August as part of a discussion about pedestrian safety.

Last year, the city tried to use some of the money to acquire the M Hill property for parkland, but federal officials indicated it couldn't be used for that purpose.

The city asked the state Department of Transportation and federal highway officials to clarify how the money can be used. Although not offering specifics, state and federal officials suggested three general guidelines: Projects must be located within Rapid City, along the greenway/pedestrian bike path, and be an expansion, not reconstruction or repair of existing facilities.

Suggestions so far have included improved Omaha pedestrian crossings; improved pedestrian paths and bike trails through the downtown; and tying the greenway and pedestrian/bike trail system to M Hill.

Olson said some of the top priorities identified in the five-year parks and recreation master plan concern connecting sections of the bike path throughout the city. She said the lack of a continuous system may discourage people from riding or walking the city's trail system.

"The problem for bicycling and pedestrians actually is they run it (the bike path) for a period of time, and then there are breaks. We'd like to improve that," she said. "Our automobiles are still not very respectful of pedestrian and bicycle traffic."

There has also been talk of extending the bike path system east and west, adding bike lanes on some streets and even an idea to turn abandoned railroad lines into a "rails to trails" project between Rapid City and the airport, possibly even extending as far east as the Badlands.

Olson said the Badlands trail proposal is an interesting idea, though it would require cooperation between many different entities.

"Several groups have talked about how cool it would be to get down to the Badlands on that railroad right-of-way. But it will require some real partnerships," she said. "You know, $1.7 million sounds like a lot of money, but if you're talking about acquiring land and doing something, it won't go real far. But it's one of those good-bad problems."

Contact Scott Aust at 394-8415 or scott.aust@rapidcityjournal.com

If you go

What: Public meetings about federal greenway funds

When: 7 p.m. Dec. 6, Community Room, first floor, City/School Administration Center, 300 Sixth St.; and 7 p.m. Jan. 8 at the Rapid City Swim Center, second floor multipurpose room, 125 Waterloo St.

Can't make the meeting? Send a comment

In addition to public meetings, the city's parks and recreation department is accepting e-mailed suggestions and comments through a link to the department Web page at www.rcparksandrec.org, or the city's Web site at www.rcgov.org.

Letters can also be mailed to: Department of Parks and Recreation, Attention Jerry Cole, 125 Waterloo St., Rapid City, SD 57701.