LINCOLN - For the second time in a month, a long-sought project to bridge a gap between recreation trails from Omaha and Lincoln has seen a setback. On Thursday, state lawmakers gave final approval to a two-year state budget that includes several budget cuts and clawbacks millions in previous funding to help close a multi-million-dollar budget shortfall.

Among the previously allocated funds taken back was $3.35 million from a trail development fund, which was part of an $8.3 million earmark the Nebraska Legislature made to build an 8-mile-long trail across rural Cass County. That trail would fill the gap between the Mo-Pac Trail, which ends in Wabash, and the trail across the Lied Bridge, which ends just south of the Platte River. The cutback comes a couple of weeks after the Cass County Board declined to approve a route for the trail, effectively rescinding a route approval made in November, that left the future of the recreation trail project to connect eastern Nebraska trails in limbo.

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