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Groundbreaking held for Hubbell Trailhead in Downtown Des Moines
Summary
Polk County, ICON Water Trails and state partners marked the Hubbell Trailhead groundbreaking in Downtown Des Moines, highlighting conservation work, ARPA-supported funding and an expected partial opening as early as 2027; officials said the project will expand river access and regional recreation-driven economic activity.
Polk County officials, state economic-development representatives and leaders from ICON Water Trails gathered at the Hubbell Trailhead site in Downtown Des Moines for a ceremonial groundbreaking that organizers said will enhance river access, habitat and recreation and help drive local economic activity.
"I wanna welcome everyone to the official groundbreaking of the Hubbell Trailhead," said Rick Tolleson, who opened the ceremony and thanked city, county and private partners. Stephanie Oppel, executive director of ICON Water Trails, said the Hubbell site will anchor expanded access along the Raccoon River and that ICON plans substantial downtown investment: "In just the first 5 downtown projects, ICON will be investing more than $47,000,000 in improvement to safety and conservation," she said.
Debbie Durham said state funding played a key role. "If it wasn't for her, we would not have had the significant funding that she allocated to quality of life initiatives from with the ARPA dollars," Durham said, citing ARPA-supported allocations that helped advance the project. She also pointed to statewide outdoor-recreation data from Iowa's county conservation system to frame the project’s potential economic impact.
Polk County Supervisor Ben McLean described the county’s existing water-quality work that organizers say complements the trailhead. McLean said county programs have supported roughly 27,000 acres of cover crops, about 150 bioreactors and more than 25 wetlands currently under design or construction, and that 13 other counties have adopted similar practices. "So that just gives you some idea of the scope we're doing, to improve the quality of water and outdoor recreation in the state of Iowa," McLean said.
Rich Leopold, director of Polk County Conservation, outlined planned site features Polk County will manage. Leopold described two main user approaches: "stay and play" for local recreation and "run the river" for through trips, and said the county will focus on shoreline work, stream-bank remediation, fish passage improvements, timber-stand improvement and an environmental-education unit staffed by naturalists. He said Polk County Conservation will manage approximately 40 acres associated with the trailhead.
Organizers provided a timetable and visitation expectations. Oppel said the Hubbell Trailhead and a nearby site called Principal Point may be open for operation "as early as 2027," which ICON officials said would help activate the Raccoon River Run. She also said ICON’s whitewater attractions are projected to become one of the most visited in the country and cited more than a quarter of 1,000,000 visits in a single recreation season as an indication of growing use.
The ceremony closed with a symbolic dirt-breaking: "Now if all of today's speakers would join me at the dirt, and grab a paddle, we'll officially get the ground broken," Oppel said.
Next steps described at the event include site activation and continued coordination among ICON, Polk County Conservation, the City of Des Moines and state partners on construction, habitat work and public programming. No formal votes or funding approvals were recorded at the ceremony.
