On Friday, July 31, at 5 p.m., the City of Clive reopened the stretch of the Greenbelt Trail that runs beneath the Interstate 80/35 bridge. If you rode or walked that segment before autumn 2024, you know exactly which one: the underpass connecting the trail east of NW 114th Street to Campbell Recreation Area on the other side, where Walnut Creek slips under the interstate and the trail used to just keep going.
For close to two years, it didn't. And the story most people heard when the closure ended three weeks ago was the simple one: the trail is back, go enjoy it. That's true, but it's only the first half of what's actually happening at this interchange. The bridge crossing reopening now is one piece of a three-phase, multi-year project that isn't finished, and the next phase changes the ground rules again in about a month.
What Reopened, And What Didn't
The segment that came back online connects the eastern and western halves of a trail that otherwise runs 11.3 miles from Windsor Heights through Clive and toward Waukee. Before the closure, that gap wasn't an inconvenience. It was the only way to safely cross the interstate on foot or by bike without detouring through Urbandale surface streets.
Clive City Manager Matt McQuillen framed the reopening as restoring a piece of regional infrastructure, not just a local amenity:
"The City of Clive is excited to have a critical link of the Des Moines Metro regional trail system reopened today, with the portion of the Clive Greenbelt Trail reopening under the Interstate 35/80 bridge."
The city's own notice comes with a caveat worth taking seriously if you're back out there this week: some construction vehicles remain staged near the trail even though the path itself is open. The interchange project above the trail is still very much active. You're walking back into a job site that happens to have reopened its sidewalk, not a finished one.
Why One Bridge Took Nearly Two Years
The closure started around October 1, 2024, when crews began preliminary earthwork for a full rebuild of the Hickman Road interchange at I-80/35. That's a $94 million, three-phase project, and the trail segment sat directly in the footprint of work that had to happen in a specific order.
Here's roughly where things stand and where they're headed:
| Phase | Timeframe | What's Happening | Trail and Pedestrian Impact |
|---|---|---|---|
| Phase 1 | Oct. 2024 – mid-2026 | Widening the interstate's outside lanes | Greenbelt Trail closed under the bridge; just reopened July 31, 2026 |
| Phase 2 | Early 2026 – fall 2026 | Demolishing the old bridge sections and building new ones over the middle of the interstate | Current traffic pattern holds through fall, with a change expected around September 2026 |
| Phase 3 | 2027 | Rebuilding Hickman Road itself into a diverging diamond interchange | Hickman Road closes in spring 2027; new pedestrian bridges and an underpass tunnel get built |
As of June 1, 2026, the Iowa DOT confirmed the current traffic configuration on the interstate would hold through fall, with a change most likely landing sometime in September. If you've settled into a rhythm on the trail since July 31 that feels stable, treat that stability as temporary. The project isn't between phases. It's mid-stride.
The Numbers Behind the Disruption
It's worth understanding why the DOT is rebuilding this interchange at all, because the scale explains both the length of the closure and why more disruption is still coming.
I-35/80 between Douglas and University currently carries more than 125,000 vehicles a day, a figure projected to climb past 185,000 by 2050. Hickman Road itself, which crosses the interstate right where the Greenbelt Trail passes underneath, carries around 40,000 vehicles daily now, headed toward more than 60,000 by 2050. That growth is why the finished interchange will be built as a diverging diamond, the same design already in place at I-35 and 1st Street in Ankeny. The diverging diamond configuration briefly shifts traffic to the opposite side of the road before merging back, which removes the left-turn conflicts that cause a disproportionate share of crashes at interchanges like this one.
None of that traffic engineering matters to someone walking a dog on the Greenbelt. What matters is this: a project built to handle 2050-level traffic doesn't wrap up on a resident's convenient timeline. The current calm on the trail exists because the DOT is working in the middle of the interstate right now, which happens to leave the trail alone. That changes once work shifts toward Hickman Road itself.
The Calm Won't Last Past Spring
Mark this on a calendar if you use the trail regularly: in spring 2027, the DOT plans to close Hickman Road entirely to reconstruct it as part of the new interchange. Drivers will be detoured to University Avenue or Douglas Avenue. That closure sits above the trail, not on it, but anyone who lived through the Timberline Park and Douglas Avenue detour during the last closure knows how these things ripple outward. Construction access, equipment staging, and temporary trail reroutes tend to follow road closures at this interchange, even when the trail itself isn't the stated target.
The honest read is that the July 31 reopening bought back roughly eight months of normal trail access before the next disruption cycle likely begins.
What You Actually Get When It's Finished
Here's the part that gets lost in the "trail reopens" headlines: when this project wraps in 2028, the Greenbelt Trail won't just be restored to how it worked before 2024. It will be better connected than it ever was.
The finished interchange includes:
- A new paved pedestrian trail roughly 2,200 feet long, starting near the Life Time Fitness entrance in Urbandale
- A grade-separated underpass tunnel carrying that trail safely beneath Hickman Road itself
- Two pedestrian bridges crossing the interstate on-ramps, so cyclists and walkers no longer share pavement with merging traffic
- A direct tie-in to the Clive Greenbelt Trail near Walnut Creek, closing a gap that previously required riding on Hickman Road's shoulder
In plain terms, once this is done, someone starting a ride at Life Time Fitness in Urbandale will be able to reach the Greenbelt Trail through tunnels and bridges instead of navigating an at-grade interstate crossing on a bike. That connection didn't exist before the closure began. It's being built specifically because of it.
A Related Upgrade Worth Watching
While the interchange work continues, the city is also moving forward on Greenbelt Landing, a separate project covering roughly 14.89 acres just outside the Clive Aquatic Center. Plans call for an ADA-accessible boardwalk along Walnut Creek, a native-plant wetland for stormwater treatment, restored streambanks, and an upgraded Special Events Building. It's not tied to the interstate project, but it sits on the same trail corridor, which means the next couple of years bring visible change to this stretch of the Greenbelt from two directions at once.
Riding It This Week
If you're back on the trail now that the bridge segment is open, a few practical notes apply. Construction equipment is still parked near the corridor in places, so the usual trail etiquette matters more than usual: stay on the paved surface, don't assume a cleared-looking area is safe to walk, and expect some noise and equipment movement as Phase 2 work continues through the fall. The city's Parks and Recreation office (515-223-5246) is the right call if you spot something that looks like it needs attention.
The bigger picture is that Clive residents got something real back on July 31, and it's fair to enjoy it. Just don't mistake this moment for the end of the story. The interchange above the trail is still two full phases from finished, and the version of the Greenbelt Trail you'll have in 2028 connects further and crosses more safely than the one that closed in 2024.
Following infrastructure like this closely, down to which phase a DOT project is in and what it means for daily life in a specific corridor, is part of how Bo Cosens stays useful to people who already call Clive home, not just people looking to move here. If you've got questions about how a project like this touches your street, your commute, or your property, Let's Connect.
