New location-identification signs are being installed at 50 Omaha trail overpasses, giving runners, walkers, and cyclists an easier way to describe where they are if they need emergency help. The 100-sign project follows roughly eight years of advocacy by the Safe Trails Initiative.
City officials say crews have already begun installing some of the 100 signs going up at 50 overpasses along the trails to help runners and other users identify where they are, according to WOWT.
Vanessa Urbach told WOWT that she and others with the Safe Trails Initiative have been pushing the city to add signage along Omaha’s trail system—which runs through Omaha, Bellevue, Papillion, Ralston, and LaVista—for eight years.
“It was surprising, ‘cause it’s actually happening,” she said. “So actually seeing the signs, it was like a great moment, because it’s all this work that’s finally actually happening.”
The initiative was originally inspired by the murder of Mollie Tibbets, a cross-country runner who was attacked and killed while running in neighboring Iowa in 2018. Her killer was eventually convicted and sentenced to life in prison without parole in 2021.
In response to Tibbets’ murder, the Safe Trails Initiative aimed to make Omaha’s trail system safer for walkers, runners, and cyclists, beginning with the installation of signs along the overpasses.
“If something should happen, and a trail user has to call 911, knowing the location nearest to a road that crosses the trail is important,” the group’s website reads. “The trail user may be in a state of panic and may not have time to look on their phone map system to see their location.”
The group would also like to see wayfinding signs installed throughout the trails system that direct both regular users and tourists or newcomers to medical services, bicycle repair services, dining, retail, and connecting trails.
“With the advent of e-bikes, many more new trail users are out on the trails, and are not that familiar with the system nor understand where they are located,” the website reads.
Despite the long wait and with hopes for more to come, Urbach said she’s happy with the change.
“It would have been great 10 years ago,” she told WOWT. “It’s great that it’s happening now, so the fact that it’s happening is what is worth it.”
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