"I think a lot of people have been hoping for this for a long time to connect the trail," Ward 2 council member Greg Hudson told KCCI in February, after the city council unanimously approved a trail connector at 1st Street and the Raccoon River. As of the city's September update, that connector is paved and open.
Line up West Des Moines's finished 2026 park projects and most of them have something in common. They don't add new parks. They join pieces that were already there: a riverbank to a levee path, a neighborhood street to a park loop, a subdivision to a greenway, a skatepark to the trail running past it. So this fall, most of what's new is a way to get somewhere you already know.
The Missing Piece at the 1st Street Bridge
The 1st Street Trail is a 10-foot concrete path. It starts at the northwest side of the 1st Street bridge, where Highway 28 crosses the Raccoon River, and runs north to Lincoln Street, where it meets the Levee Trail. A second 10-foot trail runs beside the 1st Street River Access entrance drive, from 1st Street to the parking lot. City park planner Eric Doll told Axios Des Moines last December that the project would cost an estimated $400,000 to $500,000 and would also connect to a new ICON water trail river access site and trailhead.
The trail is short, and the money went into where it sits. It puts the river access lot and the Levee Trail on one continuous paved route, so someone who parks at the river lot, or comes off the water, can reach the city trail network on a dedicated path.
The city's September 8 update said paving was done and the trail was open, with seeding and restoration to follow. Expect bare soil and new grass along the edges this fall.
What the Levee Trail Opens Up From There
The new segment matters because of where the Levee Trail goes. TrailLink describes the Levee Trail as a 1.2-mile route linking the Jordan Creek Greenway at SW 63rd Street and Tyler Avenue to the Walnut Creek Trail at North Valley Drive. Catch Des Moines lists Colby Park as a Walnut Creek Trail trailhead and says the Walnut Creek Trail connects to the Great Western Trail and the Clive Greenbelt Trail.
Here's what an outing from the river looks like now:
- Start at the 1st Street River Access lot and take the new side trail out to 1st Street.
- Pick up the 1st Street Trail at the northwest corner of the bridge and head north to Lincoln Street.
- Join the Levee Trail, which runs between the Jordan Creek Greenway and the Walnut Creek Trail.
- From the Walnut Creek Trail, continue toward Colby Park, the Clive Greenbelt or the Great Western Trail, depending on how much ride you want.
Historic Valley Junction is nearby but isn't part of this route. The Valley Junction Foundation's getting-around guide says the Jordan Creek Trail runs just south of the district, and Fifth Street runs through the shops. The city's project description doesn't mention a dedicated path from the new trail to the Fifth Street storefronts. Catch Des Moines's West Des Moines Historical Bike Tour lists the Levee Trail as a trailhead and Valley Junction businesses as a place to stop, so a trail day can still end there. The Pumpkin Walk on Fifth Street is October 25, from 2 to 5 p.m.
The Same Idea on the Edges of Town
Two smaller projects do the same job farther out.
At Scenic Valley Park, the city built a concrete trail from Scenic Valley Drive south into the park, along the east side of the drainage channel, to the existing asphalt loop. The city says it gives better access to the park from the west and also gives city staff a dedicated maintenance route. The September 8 update called it paved and open, with seeding still to come.
On the Sugar Creek Greenway, Phase 2 adds a 12-foot reinforced concrete trail from Stagecoach Drive north about 2,100 feet to the end of the Courts at Kings Landing development. It includes two short sidewalk links west into the Kings Landing neighborhood, plus benches and native-grass restoration along the route. By the city's August 19 update, paving and tree planting were done and the trail was open.
Neither project draws a crowd from across town. Their value is local. Both turn a short drive or a walk around the block into direct access on foot from nearby streets.
Crossroads Park Was Rebuilt Around Its Trail
The best-known 2026 project, the new skatepark at Crossroads Park, still follows the connector pattern. Business Record reported on September 23 that the city opened the skatepark at 5205 Ashworth Road. It has all-new concrete features for skateboarders and scooter riders of every level: a slappy curb, a box bollard, a radius wedge and quarter pipes. They replace wooden ramps that had been in use for nearly two decades.
The same report says the city slightly rerouted the multi-use trail beside the skatepark to improve access and make the path through the park flow more smoothly. The city's construction page explains the move. The trail to the north was adjusted to make room for the new facility, which skatepark design firm Spohn Ranch developed with community input, including an open house at the Valley Junction Activity Center in January.
The city page still carries a July warning that the skatepark closes during active construction. The later Business Record report describes the skatepark as open and the reroute as done.
Reasons to Stay Once You Arrive
Some of the 2026 money went into the parks themselves. These projects pair well with the new connections, because they give people a reason to stay once the trail gets them there.
At Valley View Park, whose west entrance is at 225 88th Street, an open-air shelter with restrooms now stands just east of the pickleball courts. A small maintenance building and two dedicated outdoor cricket practice cages are also finished. The cages sit at the northeast corner of the central lawn. The tennis and basketball courts were resurfaced, the sand volleyball courts got erosion improvements, and the cricket pitch in the open field was enlarged. The city says all the courts are open, with punch-list and seeding work still to come.
The timing matters this week. The city's Valley View facility page says the cricket pitch can be rented from April 15 to October 15. Organized use requires a reservation, and unreserved field space is first-come, first-served. As of today, October 11, four days are left in this year's rental window.
At Southwoods Park, the improvements are on the disc golf course. City crews finished a culvert crossing and erosion repairs. The contract work adds limestone seating blocks and steps, roadstone paths and surfacing around the concrete tee pads, new plantings, and granite boulder retaining walls at some tees. The city expected the course to stay generally open during the work. According to the Southwoods facility page, the course is free and first-come, and it sits alongside multi-use and singletrack trails. Tournaments and large groups need a reservation, and the city asks players to stay on designated paths between holes to protect the native wildflowers.
Work That Was Still Underway at the Last Update
Not everything on the 2026 list was finished at the last public update. These projects had August status reports, and we found no later confirmation that they're done:
- Holiday Park / Wilson Park Trail. The city is reconstructing the trail between 9th Street and 14th Street, along with a section of the Fairmeadows Park Trail. It's also patching parts of the Mills Civic Parkway Trail and replacing ADA curb ramps. The August 17 update said crews had started near the Wells Fargo campus, would move to Mills Civic Parkway next, and planned to start the Holiday/Wilson segment by mid-September, weather permitting. The Forestry Division was also taking out four ash trees at Wilson Park to make room for the work. Plan for this stretch to be under construction.
- Raccoon River Park Softball Complex playground. As of August 19, the drainage, concrete pad and play equipment were in. The shade structures were still being manufactured, and they'll be installed this fall along with the playground surfacing. The target is public use by fall 2026. This is a different playground from the inclusive playground in the main part of the 631-acre park.
The Connection Coming in 2027
The 1st Street Trail is the first half of a longer plan. Doll told Axios Des Moines that the Raccoon River East Greenway Trail will run west from the same 1st Street trailhead toward Raccoon River Park and connect near the dog park. The route is about 1.5 miles and includes a bridge over Jordan Creek near where it flows into the Raccoon River. As of that December 2025 report, construction was expected to start and finish in 2027.
Once that link is built, the trailhead that opened this fall will connect the Levee Trail on one side and Raccoon River Park on the other.
If one of these new connections ends up shaping where you'd want to live next, or you're curious how trail access figures into home values around West Des Moines, Dan Rozga is glad to talk it through over coffee or on a walk along the Levee Trail. Let's Connect.
