Every dollar donated to the River’s Edge Trail Foundation goes to our mission of promoting development, ensuring maintenance and encouraging utilization of the trail.

This year, the trail has not only provided a space for physical activity and relaxation but has also fostered a sense of community and connection among its users. Maintaining and improving the trail requires ongoing effort and resources. As we look back on the year you have helped protect and maintain the trail through:

  • Grants for repaving, conversion to long-term concrete sections and bank stabilization
  • Landscape maintenance, asphalt sealing, art installations, and signage updates
  • Continued focus on the River Drive South realignment project and other safety needs like leash signs

Repairing the surface of the trail is imperative to prevent damage and costly repairs. A new walk-behind asphalt applicator makes resurfacing and crack filling faster and more cost-efficient.

Trails Coordinator Olivia Hollis and her team now have a quick and efficient way to respond to trail maintenance needs all the way out to the furthest single track.

Affectionately known as the ‘The Bridge Lady’ Arlyne Riechert passed away this year but her legacy lives on as the bridge is now a vital connector on the trail.

River Drive South Realignment Update

The realignment of the River Drive South section of the trail is the most complex and expensive project we’ve undertaken but once complete will provide a safer more usable trail. Below is an update on this multi-year project from Jim Wingerter, Great Falls District Ambassador, Montana Department of Transportation.

Hello River’s Edge Trail Foundation members and interested parties:

The Montana Department of Transportation has been working with the City of Great Falls, River’s Edge Trail Foundation and several State and Federal regulatory organizations to develop a safe, scenic and efficient trail connection between Broadwater Bay and the Central Avenue Bridge. The current route around the railroad bridge is complicated, confusing, and requires navigating four at-grade roadway crossings and two at-grade railroad crossings. MDT has been continuously working to develop a connector that best provides enhancements while protecting the river and shoreline as much as possible, avoiding negative impact on the rail bridge or on the adjacent roadway, and keep construction costs and public inconvenience as low as possible.

The new connector will require moving a portion of River Drive further inland, relocation of water and sewer pipes, and construction of a retaining wall topped by a new trail that will travel into the river and around the rail bridge support column. New protective structures on either side of the railroad bridge will protect trail users from anything that might fall from a train passing overhead. New flashing safety beacons, similar to the one on River Drive near the Skate Park will also be installed at Applebee’s and Water Park crossings. When completed, the new connector will be safer, shorter and provide a much better user experience. The new connector will require moving a portion of River Drive further inland, relocation of water and sewer pipes, and construction of a retaining wall topped by a new trail that will travel into the river and around the rail bridge support column.

With a nod given to the possibility of unforeseen delay, we are on track for construction of the new River Drive South Connector in the summer of 2026. We are excited to be a part of this wonderful project and, as members of this community, we look forward to using it ourselves.