First stretch of Nebraska rail-to-trail project opens in Hooper

HOOPER, Neb. —

Nearly three miles of the defunct Fremont and Elkhorn Valley Railroad are now ready for hikers, cyclists and runners.

An asphalt trail from Hooper to Highway 77 will officially open with a ribbon cutting on Friday. The trail runs along the same land that once carried the FEVR line and a dinner train, which dates back to 1869.

The plan is for the FEVR trail to eventually connect Fremont and Hooper. The trail would be more than 15 miles long.

The railroad fell into disrepair beginning around three decades ago. In 2021, the owner donated the land, said the president of the nonprofit Elkhorn Valley Trails Inc., Stan Darling.

Nonprofit Elkhorn Valley Trails Inc. built the initial stretch of trail and raised the funds to make it possible, including from the Fremont Area Community Foundation, the Fremont & Dodge County Convention and Visitors Bureau, the city of Hooper and its community foundation, the Fremont Rotary Club, and individuals, Darling said.

Darling began working on a deal with the owner of the defunct railroad more than a decade ago.

The asphalt will soon be packed down to make the trail smoother.

This is the first of four planned sections. The city of Fremont plans a concrete trail within the city. The nonprofit plans to build to about Yager Road north of Highway 275 near Fremont, through Nickerson.

“People like to be out in the country,” Hooper Mayor Tami Clausen said. “They like to be out where it’s a little bit more wide open.”

She said the trail will attract more people to the town and make it safer for runners and cyclists who used Old Highway 275.

Darling estimates it will take about half a million dollars to complete the project. He hopes the completion of this first section will build momentum for their fundraising efforts.