The ramp at 425 S. 1st Street is 96 feet long, 20 feet wide, and set at a 15 percent slope. It reaches the Raccoon River at the bottom of a paved road through established timber. The lot at the end has 20 spaces for single vehicles, two ADA spaces, and nine spaces long enough for a truck and trailer. Polk County Conservation calls the 1st Street Recreation Area one of its newest boating destinations. Everything in that layout assumes you arrived by car.
That changed this fall. In its October 27 project update, West Des Moines reported that the concrete paving on the new 1st Street Trail is complete and open to the public. The trail is short and it won't get much attention. It also gives the river access south of Historic Valley Junction a way in for people walking or biking from the neighborhood just north of it.
A Small Project Attached to a Bigger One
The launch came first. A 2024 project profile from ICON Water Trails put the boat access project at $1,873,000, with $475,000 in grants secured. The remaining $1,398,000 was to be split evenly between the city and Polk County Conservation. That same profile placed the site directly south of Historic Valley Junction. It also described a future trail link between the access site and the city's paved trail system, which ICON then put at 76 miles.
The 1st Street Trail is that link, and it cost far less. In December 2025, West Des Moines park planner Eric Doll told Axios Des Moines the project was estimated at $400,000 to $500,000 and would be finished by fall 2026. At the high end of that estimate, the trail cost roughly a quarter of the launch budget. It's the piece that lets people from the neighborhood reach the launch without a car.
What the New Pavement Connects
The city's construction page describes the project as two pieces of 10-foot concrete trail. Going south from Valley Junction, the route works like this:
- Lincoln Street and the Levee Trail. The new trail starts here and connects to the existing Levee Trail.
- North to south along 1st Street. The concrete runs from Lincoln Street down to the northwest side of the 1st Street bridge, where Highway 28 crosses the Raccoon River.
- Along the river access drive. A second 10-foot trail follows the 1st Street River Access entrance drive from 1st Street to the parking lot and ramp.
The Levee Trail itself is a 1.2-mile asphalt route. According to TrailLink, its endpoints are the Jordan Creek Greenway at SW 63rd Street and Tyler Avenue and the Walnut Creek Trail at North Valley Drive, just west of Water Works Park. Polk County's own page for the recreation area recommends it as a shady picnic stop for cyclists before they head back out on the Jordan Creek Trail or the Walnut Creek Trail. Until now, the last stretch to that picnic stop meant sharing 1st Street and the entrance drive with cars and trailers. Both pieces of that stretch now have their own trail.
The lot was designed for cars and trailers. The new trail adds a bicycle route to it, and the county lists bike parking among the site's features.
What's at the Bottom of the Hill
People who come down the trail for the first time will find a site focused on the water. The county lists boating, fishing, bird watching, and picnicking as the main uses.
Feature | Details from Polk County Conservation |
|---|---|
Address | 425 S. 1st Street, West Des Moines |
Size | A little less than 19 acres along the Raccoon River |
Hours | Daily, 6 a.m. to 10:30 p.m., unless otherwise posted |
Boat ramp | 96 feet long, 20 feet wide, 15 percent slope |
Parking | 20 single-vehicle, 2 ADA, 9 truck/trailer spaces, with parking lighting |
Other amenities | Bicycle parking, portable pit restroom |
The river distances here make sense for a half-day paddle. ICON's profile puts Walnut Woods State Park about 3.75 river miles upstream of the launch and Des Moines Water Works Park about four river miles downstream. Those are river miles, not trail miles. They tell you how far apart the launch points are on the water, not how far you'd ride to get there.
Some things are still unfinished, and you'll see it. The city says seeding and site restoration along the new trail will pick up again in spring 2027, so expect bare ground beside the concrete through the winter. The county also says the recreation area itself isn't complete yet. The city has more improvements planned, including hiking trails and fishing piers.
The Next Link Runs West to the Dog Park
The 1st Street Trail also sets up the city's next trail project. The Raccoon River East Greenway Trail is planned as a 1.2-mile concrete multi-use trail from the 1st Street River Access Recreation Area to the Raccoon River Park Dog Park. It will follow the north side of the river and cross Jordan Creek on a new bridge.
Funding came through in October. On October 13, 2026, the Iowa Transportation Commission approved $2,557,055 for six State Recreational Trails Program projects statewide. One was a $400,000 award for the East Greenway between the 1st Street Recreation Area and Raccoon River Park. WHO 13 also reported the award.
The schedule has moved since the project was first described. In the December 2025 Axios preview, Doll put the length at around 1.5 miles and expected construction to start and finish in 2027. The city's October 27 update gives 1.2 miles. It says the design consultant, ISG, Inc., is nearly done with construction documents and that more permits are needed before bidding this winter. Construction is now planned to start in spring 2027 and finish in spring 2028.
When that segment opens, the launch will sit in the middle of a riverfront route, with Valley Junction and the Levee Trail on one side and Raccoon River Park on the other. For the next year and a half, it's still the end of the trail.
Thursday Nights at the North End
The trail's north end is a few blocks from 5th Street, and the season there is about to change. The Historic Valley Junction Foundation's events calendar lists Jingle in the Junction for November 19, followed by December 3, December 10, and December 17. The event listing says many businesses stay open later those nights, with free entertainment along three blocks of 5th Street under more than 100,000 holiday lights. The November 19 event page lists the hours as 5 to 8 p.m.
The river access closes at 10:30 p.m., and the November and December evenings will be dark well before Jingle in the Junction ends at 8. If you'd like to do both, an afternoon walk to the river followed by an early dinner on 5th Street is the easier order.
These 5th Street stops appear in the Valley Junction directory updated in March 2026. Hours change, especially around the holidays, so check before you go:
- Coffee Cats Cafe, 312 5th Street
- Reading in Public Bookstore + Cafe, 315 5th Street
- Let Them Eat Cake, 304 5th Street, Suite 102
- Black Cat Ice Cream, 134 5th Street
- Bix & Co., 111 5th Street
- G Mig's 5th Street Pub, 128 5th Street
- Winchester Public House, 226 5th Street
- St. Kilda Collective, 333 5th Street
Before the new pavement, the launch south of Valley Junction worked like a separate destination with its own parking lot. Now it's at the end of a 10-foot concrete trail from Lincoln Street.
I'm Pete Jones, and I write about West Des Moines trail projects as they open, since a new connection like this one changes how you can get around near home. If you've taken the new trail from Lincoln Street down to the ramp, or you have questions about the area around it, Peter Jones Realty is glad to hear from you. Let's connect.
