Council hears proposal to pursue Great American Rail Trail feasibility study linking Douglas and Casper

JD Cox, city administrator for Douglas, told the Casper City Council that planners are preparing to apply for a Rural and Tribal Assistance Pilot Program grant to study a potential route of the Great American Rail Trail from Douglas to Casper.

The study Cox described would be a $250,000 feasibility grant to help “connect the dots” between existing trails in Douglas, Glenrock and Casper and to produce routing and cost estimates for the corridor. “We are going to be applying for a grant ... It’ll be a $250,000 grant that would would study the feasibility from Douglas all the way to Casper,” Cox said.

The proposal would rely on the Rails-to-Trails Conservancy national program for technical support and on local partners for planning. Cox said the national group can provide a regional coordinator for the Montana and Wyoming stretches and that the group’s role often is to help with route identification and to support local grant applications rather than to fund construction directly.

Councilors asked how the trail would tie into local trail assets. Cox and other staff said the plan is to connect trails through Douglas, Glenrock, Evansville, Natrona County, Casper and Mills so users could travel between towns on an interconnected route. Councilor questions focused on specific crossings and alignments, including a prior underpass at the EKW (Ennis-Kimball-Wilkins) terminus; a representative from the Platte River Trails Trust confirmed the trust is working on designs for an at-grade crossing and has examined underpass options at EKW but said the existing drainage underpass would not meet ADA or structural requirements without redesign.

Cox said the county and cities would be partners on planning, and that local staff and elected leaders would be asked for time and support rather than immediate construction funding. “There is no financial ask at this point in time,” Cox told the council, noting the request was for direction to proceed with the application and for partnership on staff time and planning.

Councilors indicated informal support: staff reported the council was “amenable” and several members gave a verbal thumbs-up to proceed with the application and partnership. Cox said the grant application would be submitted next Thursday and that Douglas and Casper staff would continue coordinating; he said the national program could later help identify construction funding sources if the feasibility work advances.

The presentation emphasized that the Great American Rail Trail project focuses first on route assessment and local partnerships rather than construction funding; Cox and other presenters repeatedly described the program as a way to identify alignments, partnership roles and later funding opportunities for construction and operations.

The council did not authorize any city expenditures during the meeting and did not take a formal recorded vote. Councilors asked that staff return with follow-up details if the grant is awarded and when routing options are defined.