Wayland council approves bid for new walking path

The city of Wayland is ready to move on to the final phase of its Wayland West Park Wetlands project.

At Wednesday night's meeting, the City Council unanimously accepted a bid for the final phase of the project – the construction of a half-mile cement walking path.

There were seven bids on the project, with the lowest bid at $152,290 from J&L Construction of Washington. The highest of the seven bids was $223,680 from Iowa Bridge and Culvert of Washington.

The low bid came in well under the engineer's estimate of $170,230.

'They came in a lot lower than we expected,” council member Melinda Ullery said.

City Clerk Beverly Conrad replied, 'They certainly did. They definitely wanted the business.”

The project includes approximately a half-mile, 6-foot-wide cement walking path through West Park.

'The funding for the walking path consists of city funds, donations and a Wellmark Foundation grant for $100,000,” Conrad said.

She explained that it is called a walking path because in order to be called a walking trail, it would have to be at least eight feet wide.

The walking path is the final phase of the project at West Park.

A new nature-themed splash pad and restrooms opened on Aug. 20 and closed on Labor Day.

New playground equipment was also installed at the park, a project that was completed in the last week of July.

That equipment includes a glider, zipline swings, two regular swings, two baby swings, a large playset and a toddler playset.

'Funding for this phase of the project came from various fundraisers, donations, Enhance Henry County Foundation Grant, William M. & Donna J Houglin Foundation Grant and city funds,” Conrad said.