By Lisa Carolin
Close to a hundred people came out on a brisk Saturday morning, Dec. 8 to be part of the ribbon cutting ceremony for the newly completed section of the Border-to-Border Trail.
The new trail segment covers 2.6 miles from the intersection of Werkner Road and M-52, where the ribbon cutting took place, to the Department of Natural Resources’ Green Lake Campground entrance in the Waterloo Recreation Area. That’s where the trail will provide access to the DTE Mountain Bike Trail, and will form part of the Iron Belle Trail, which is Michigan’s longest statewide trail network at 2,000 miles.
“This provides a wonderful opportunity for people to be out in nature and see this beautiful stretch of road,” said Lyndon Township resident Sara Hickey.
“I’m going to take my first hike on the trail this morning,” said Lyndon Township resident Maribeth Hammer.
She wasn’t alone. Dozens of trail enthusiasts who attended the ribbon cutting christened the new segment of trail following the ribbon cutting.
Jeff Hardcastle, the board chair of the HWPI, Huron Waterloo Pathways Initiative, spoke to the crowd and reminded everyone that the project was approved in March of 2016 and cost $2.5 million.
Coy Vaughn, Washtenaw County Parks Commission director, thanked the DNR, the Washtenaw County Road Commission, and Lyndon Township for its partnership in the project along with Roy Townsend, project engineer, at the Washtenaw County Parks and Recreation Commission.
According to information provided by Susan Faulkner, executive director of HWPI, the trail is a paved, 10-foot wide, ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) compliant, non-motorized pathway intended for people of all ages and abilities.
This trail segment is one of many more to come, Faulkner said in a press release. WCPARC, with the support of HWPI, has begun a multi-year, 22-mile construction drive that strives to complete the B2B regional trail system by 2022.
When completed, the B2B will feature eight themed bridges spanning the Huron River between Ann Arbor and Dexter. It will also include a continuous 44-mile pathway passing through the Waterloo and Pinckney State Recreation Areas and connecting to a portion of the existing Lakelands Trail.
In 2019, trail construction will continue on 3 or 4 segments of the B2B, covering between 5.3 and 8.4 new miles of trail, including the installation of two bridges over the Huron River, one tunnel under M-52 connecting the Waterloo and Pinckney Recreation Areas, and the first dedicated B2B Trailhead adjacent to the Lyndon Township Hall, Faulkner said.
The HWPI was founded in 2014 and is an all-volunteer, nonprofit organization based in Chelsea and Dexter with the mission to facilitate the development of non-motorized recreational pathways, linking them to a growing network of Michigan Trails.
You would have thought they would have put in a parking lot somewhere on M52.