The Mandan Park District will follow its original plans to extend the Old Red Trail pedestrian path from Collins Avenue to Mandan Avenue, despite plans to reroute the Old Red Trail in the future.

District Director Cole Higlin explained at Monday's meeting of the park board that future plans call for Old Red Trail to be realigned from Collins to Mandan Avenue, cutting diagonally through, the subdivision south of the existing Old Red Trail.

But there are holdups in the construction of the new alignment and no real indication of when the work will take place, Higlin said. The park district could wait and not endanger the nearly $300,000 it received in funding. Or the district could go ahead with construction next year as first planned.

Higlin also said that should the board decide to wait on construction of phase III of the Old Red Trail pedestrian path, it can't move forward on any other paths. Grant funds will not be available until those funds already provided are spent.

The developer who owns the property on which the realigned Old Red Trail will cross has been reluctant to move ahead with any plans.

"City engineer Tom Little is recommending we stay with the original route, which runs south of Old Red Trail directly across from Tesoro," Higlin said.

Higlin said that the new alignment might be a little shorter, requiring less path be built, but he said he did not feel it would be a significant savings.

One drawback with staying with the existing Old Red Trail is that when the new alignment is built, those using the path will have to cross it at the point the new and old routes intersect. The district may have to put up crossing lights for pedestrian safety, which could cost about $20,000.

Board Chairman Tracy Porter said he believes that the new alignment will have a number of driveways to cross as the area develops and that the original route may actually be safer.

"My feeling is that we just stick with the current Old Red Trail route and the current construction timeline that we've adopted," Porter said.

The rest of the board agreed, and no action was needed to stay with the original plan.

In other activity the the board:

nMet its new accounting manager Darla Roggenbuck, who will start Oct. 15.

n Received an update on the accounting department reorganization. The park district will have its own three-person accounting department by Jan. 1, 2008, after severing ties with the city accounting department. Two city accounting personnel have been offered jobs with the park district.

(Reach reporter Gordon Weixel at 250-8255 or gordon.weixel@;bismarcktribune.com.)