St. Luke’s contributes and celebrates with Valley County Pathways on new safe route to school trail in McCall

St. Luke’s joined local nonprofit Valley County Pathways and elected officials from the City of McCall and Valley County to celebrate the grand opening of the new East Deinhard and Samson Trail walking and biking trail Oct. 9.

Students from the Barbara Morgan Elementary School and the Payette Lakes Middle School joined the ribbon-cutting event and walked the new trails to celebrate the important addition to the greater McCall and Valley County pathways systems.

“This project has been three years in the making. We appreciate working together with the state, Valley County Parks & Recreation and St. Luke’s to make it all possible,” said Steve Stuebner, board president of Valley County Pathways. “It takes a lot of partnerships and a great spirit of working together in our community to create these winning projects.”

The pathway projects were funded in part by a $250,000 grant from Idaho’s Children and Pedestrian Safety Program. Valley County Pathways contributed more than $30,000 to the Samson Trail project for design and engineering costs and $60,000 to the construction costs. St. Luke’s FitOne awarded a $25,000 grant to Valley County Pathways to support construction costs of the new path.

The new Samson Trail walking and biking trail/safe route to schools starts at the parking lot entrance to McCall’s middle and elementary schools and runs south from the Deinhard Lane-Samson Trail intersection approximately one mile to Elo Road.

The East Deinhard Lane pathway project completes the non-motorized pathway to the Idaho 55 junction and also creates new sections of pathway along Idaho 55 in that vicinity in partnership with the Idaho Transportation Department. Pedestrian safety and ADA accommodations were added to the East Deinhard pathway, city officials said.

“FitOne is excited to be part of this impactful project in the McCall community,” said FitOne race director Alissa McKinley. “By funding critical infrastructure that promotes health and wellness, we are helping to create an environment where residents can lead more active, healthier lives. This grant reflects our ongoing commitment to investing in the communities we serve and supporting sustainable initiatives that improve overall well-being. We are excited to see the positive changes this project will bring to McCall.”

Valley County Parks & Recreation has applied for grant funds for Samson Trail phase 2, which would extend the walking and biking trail another mile south to Pearson Lane.