A event is planned to celebrate the Iron Horse Trail, an ambitious project which began in the summer of 2022 and will be complete this month.

Abilene’s Iron Horse Trail  is a 5.5-mile “rails with trails” project that connects the cities of Abilene and Enterprise. It runs along the active track of the Abilene & Smoky Valley Railroad and provides a safe, accessible space for walking, biking, and jogging. It’s the only known rails-with-trails project in the Midwest.

According to the railroad, it’s rare to find a “rails with trails” pathway where the adjoining right-of-way of an existing railroad becomes a multi-use walkway.

The task of constructing the generally eight-foot wide trail has included building bridges over creeks and the Smoky Hill River, as well as extensive grading and dirt work. The trail spans the entire 5.5 miles between Abilene and Enterprise. Users are able to bike, walk and jog the full distance of the pathway that begins in Abilene at the railroad crossing on S. Campbell Street, and ends at the Enterprise rail yard at Bridge Street.

Trail users will likely welcome another forthcoming addition, two gazebos being constructed along the right-of-way, where joggers and walkers can rest before continuing their journeys.