La Crescent Is Connecting the Pool to the River, One Grant at a Time. The Bikes Leave in Mid-November.

"That's why we do those long range plans. It makes us eligible for applying for grants." Mayor Mike Poellinger said that in May, standing at Frank J. Kistler Park at the first of three ribbon cuttings the city held in a single afternoon, as Hometown Argus reported.

Through this year, La Crescent has added a widened walkway, a bike share station, an EV charger, and a net-zero park pavilion, and it has a Walnut Street rebuild scheduled to finish in November. Most of these line up on a map. The city is building a continuous walking and biking route from the school-and-pool corner on the south side through downtown to the Wagon Wheel Trail Bridge, and it is paying for much of it with grants that only come to towns with a plan already on paper.

You can walk one piece of it any day of the year. You can only ride one piece until mid-November.

The first link runs past the pool

The South Sixth Street project goes back to the city's 2017 Bike and Pedestrian Access Action Plan. Crews narrowed the street and built a 10-foot-wide walkway that is now ADA accessible and connects the elementary school to the pool. Poellinger put the grant-funded piece at $229,000 for the narrowing and the walkway. City engineer Tim Hruska said the crew also replaced the water main and took out galvanized service lines at six homes, which he described as "classified the same as the lead services."

The mayor said plainly where the walkway is meant to lead. "This is really a phase of a better connection from our rec program to our downtown, because we're going to do future improvements going that direction," he told Hometown Argus. He added that Sustainability Coordinator Jason Ludwigson had secured funding for improvements running south toward the high school.

So the walkway is the starting point. The rest of the year's projects carry that line north.

Downtown is the middle of the line

Walnut Street is the next segment. The WHKS & Co. project page lays out the reconstruction from South 3rd Street north to North 4th Street, plus Walnut Place up to its dead end. The plan follows the city's Walnut Street Corridor Plan, adopted December 11, 2023. The walking pieces get the most space in the design:

• A 10-foot concrete sidewalk on the east side of Walnut Street and a 6-foot walk on the west side
• A 10-foot walk along the north side of North 4th Street, continuing up the west side of Walnut Place to Veterans Park
• New street lighting, boulevard trees and landscaped curb bumpouts
• Wayfinding signs, bike racks, water fountains, planters and benches

The posted schedule had construction starting in spring 2026 and ending in November 2026. The contacts listed for the project are city engineer Tim Hruska of WHKS and Public Works Director Tyler Benish.

The city also awarded its Redwood Street Storm Sewer Improvements contract to Generation X Construction LLC. That project also includes new sidewalk, and the bid lists a completion date of November 15, 2026.

The newest business on the line sits on Walnut. Groovy Grounds Bistro + Coffee, at 28 N. Walnut St., was featured in ABC 6's "Spotlight on Business" on April 22 and had its chamber ribbon cutting on May 19. It's open 6:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. on weekdays and 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday. The menu runs from specialty coffee, espresso, tea and refreshers to breakfast croissants, panini, bubble waffles and parfaits.

The end of the line, and the piece with a deadline

The Wagon Wheel Trail Bridge is the river end of the route, and that's where the Drift Cycle station opened on May 11. Drift Cycle is the La Crosse-based bike share, and its president, Jacob Sciammas, called La Crescent's station "the first new hub as part of the La Crosse region." The station opened with five bikes.

According to the same Hometown Argus report, Ludwigson said the station "will move permanently over on Walnut Street when it's reconstructed." That one sentence connects the bridge to downtown. When it's finished, the river end of the route and the middle of it will share a bike station.

Here's how riding works, as reported in May:

1. Download the Drift Cycle app and scan the QR code on the back of a bike.
2. Ride for $1 per 30 minutes.
3. Return the bike to any Drift Cycle station. Riders get an in-app credit for docking at less-used stations.

"You can pause your rides at a coffee shop and resume them afterward," Sciammas said. He also gave the limit: "You can't do too long, because otherwise it becomes a bike keep."

If you plan to ride more than a few times, Drift Cycle's site lists passes at $7.50 for three days, $10 for 30 days, $25 for 90 days and $50 for 365 days. The stations page lists 15 stations in La Crosse. WKBT reported that Drift's expansion added stations on La Crosse's north side and in La Crescent, along with custom Wyatt bikes made for teens and shorter riders.

Now the deadline. Drift Cycle's homepage says bikes are available until November and "will be put away in Mid-November." The walkways stay open all winter. The bike link only runs in warm weather, so from now until mid-November is the last chance this year to take a bike from the bridge, across the river and back.

The third ribbon cutting that May afternoon was across from the Fire Department, where the city put in an EV charging station at 339 S. First St. with both Level 2 and Level 3 fast charging. "They'll be able to travel long distances along the Highway 61 corridor," Ludwigson said. Curt Trnka, president of the La Crescent Community Foundation, had already tried it: "I've used it already. I love it."

Wieser Park shows how the grant model works

Wieser Memorial Park isn't on the downtown route. It shows the same funding method in a single building. On August 18, after a short downpour, the city cut the ribbon on the park's new playground and on solar panels for the pavilion, as Hometown Argus reported. Poellinger said the park started as a gift from the Wieser family in La Crescent Township and became city property when the city annexed land for homes.

The panels produce 105% of the pavilion's annual electricity use, which gives it net-zero status. WKBT called it the community's first net-zero building. Ludwigson said the city has also added solar at the pool and plans another installation at Stoney Point. Council member Chris Langen described how much the building gets used: "It's rented out nonstop."

That demand matters if you're planning a winter gathering. The pavilion, at 1817 County 6, has indoor seating for 160 along with tables, chairs, a refrigerator and freezer, a TV and a microphone with speakers. Reservations go through the city's Facility Use Request form, and payment is required to hold a date.

What's on the calendar while the bikes are still out

Most of the late-fall calendar falls within the last weeks of bike season. Two of these programs are at the La Crescent Community Building, 336 S. 1st St., down the street from the new EV charger.

For Spooky Trivia, the library asks attendees to support its program partners by buying food and drinks from Swing Bridge Pub. The Business Trick or Treat listing says the event is free and takes place downtown. Walnut Street, the street being rebuilt this year with wider sidewalks, is part of downtown.

If you live in La Crescent and want to see how these 2026 projects connect, or you want to know how city plans like these affect the streets around a home you're thinking about, Julie Delap knows this side of the river block by block. Our La Crescent neighborhood page has more on the town, and when you're ready to talk about your own plans, schedule a consultation.