City Of Edmond Breaks Ground For New Trails At Lake Arcadia

Changes are on the way at Edmond's Lake Arcadia. The city is working with private business to improve and create trails around the lake.

It's a major undertaking. All said and done it'll be nearly 20 miles of paved trails that supporters are hoping will be a pathway to healthy living.

It may not look like much now, but all this mud and overgrowth is the hopeful home of a new trail aimed at getting Oklahomans outside for a little exercise.

“I love to cycle, I love to run. And as I moved to Oklahoma I wanted to see a difference made,” said Chair of Pathway To Greatness Campaign Kacey Evans.

That difference will be the new Arcadia Lake trails in north east Edmond. It's been in the works for years and now crews are set to break ground this weekend.

Starting at Spring Creek, it'll link up with two sets of trails surrounding the lake. All in all, it's 18-point-8 miles of dual use paved trails for walking, running or biking.

The total cost of this project is going to be right around $34 million but the funding is nowhere close. The city of Edmond has chipped in four million so the coalition behind the project is turning to private industry to make up the rest.

“We’d love one big sponsor or we’d love many smaller sponsors,” said Evans.

The only portion being started so far is along spring creek, but developers have high hopes for the lake's new look.

“It’ll be fantastic. It’ll bring a lot of people into town. We’re excited to have a longer trail. We’ve visualized events, but also for the community it’ll be a longer route to run or bike whatever the case is,” said Edmond Parks Director Craig Dishman.

Ground breaking for the beginning of the trail is at 9 a.m. Saturday. The parks director said they hope to have that part finished by next summer depending on the weather.