I'll try and keep this brief- I rode the Van Fleet Trail near Polk City yesterday, and as I was getting ready was apporached by a fellow from a planning commision about the strong possiblity that a new railroad track was going to be constructed 25 yards to the east of the existing Van Fleet Trail. He explained that a couple of public meetings had been held, and only a few local homeowners had showed up. None of them cared where the new rail line was going to be- and the Van Fleet Route was the shortest proposed. The fellow was trying to figure out how to get more people who use the trail to have input, so he was spending the day speaking to people at the Trailhead. This new track would cause many miles of walls to be built sheilding it from the Trail (and thus ruining the veiw along the Trail...), in addition to being used for aound 30 trains a day! This will certainly ruin the veiw of all the critters along the ride...gophers, snakes, gators...etc!).

Here is a link to the website for planning the new route. There is a map, and the route to the far right side of the map (near the center of the page) is the one going right next to our trail. Other colored lines are proposed other routes that can be taken: http://ideas.polkrail.com/

There are places on the website for comments, and the fellow told me that they are all considered- so you don't have to live local to help save the trail. The local planning meetings have all now passed, so giving input through e-mail is now the most direct way to help. I will update as I find out more information on this issue....let's see what we can do to save this fun Trail!