New piece of greenway from Chicago’s East Side to Michigan to be constructed

Al ong-planned trail connecting Chicago’s East Side to New Buffalo, Michigan, is abo utt o com eo ne ste p cl ose rt o completion.

Work o nth e far east end o fth eM arquett eG reenway iss e tt o begin with a groundbreaking in New Buffal o on April 3. Though some parts o fth e trail have been built in Chicago and Indiana, the April work will mark the start o fc onstructio nin Michigan.

Once co mplete , th e roughly 60-mile trail is intende dt o provide cyclists and pedestrians acce ss to the industrial cities, lakefro ntt owns and Indiana Dunes National Park, all of which do tth e southern edg eo f Lak eM ichigan. The project has been planned fo rm ore than a decade, but at th ee nd o f2 023 less than half the trail had been built. Atl east some funding is in place fo rm ost o fth e remaining pieces in Indiana and Michigan, according to Indiana Still, planners.e 24 mil s

o f trail have bee nc ompleted, including the weste rnt erminus in Calumet Park in Chicago. Fro m th ere , th e trail quickly crosses into northwest Indiana and is expecte dt oe ventually run through citie sin the area, pass a steel mill and conne cts ections o fthe Dunes national park. It will the n cr oss int oM ichigan for af ew miles, ending in popular vacatio nd estinatio nN ew Buffalo.

Planners have said the trail could bring economic and environmental benefitsoto thr ugh, the and towns it could it passes help improve residents’ health and well-being. They eventually hope to connect the path to th eL akefront Trail in Chicago and to towns farthe rupth e lakefront in Michigan, though plans for those connections are still tentative.

Many people already cycle between Chicago and New Buffalo , but f o rn ow the trip requires skill, said Marcy Hamilton with the Southwest Michigan Planning Commission. The trail will make the journey accessible to less advanced cyclists, putting bikes on a safe ,s eparated path, she said.

It will also provide recreational opportunitie sf o rthe nearly 200,000 people who live within a mile-and-a-half o fth e trail, she said.

“Ir eally think this trail is going to be transformational fo rth e region,” she said.

C r e ating th e path hasn’t been straightforward, planners have said. The path doesn’t follo wa ready-made corridor, like others that follow old railroad tracks, and planners are trying to create a path in areas that have already been built up with other uses ove rth e years, said Dian eP ysho s,av olunteer with Friends of Berrien County Trails who has worked o nth e project.

Th eM ichigan portion of the trail involve dw orking with Amtrak to ge t an easement along U.S. 12t o make roo mf o r th e trail.

Now, officials are planning work o nth e nearly $7 million Michigan portion in two phase s,b eginning in April. The first phase, expecte dt o b efi nished this year, will include a1 0-foot wide paved path along U.S. 12 fro md ownto wnN ew Buffalo south fo rab out 3 miles. Work will include creating a trailhead with parking, a picnic area, and a bike repair station.

The second phase is planne dt o be built in 2025, and will run a little less than a mile ,c onnecting th efi rst phase to th eM ichigan-Indiana state line, Hamilton said.

Th eM ichigan portion of the trail is largely funded byf ederal and state grants, local municipalitie s,d onations fro mm ore than 200 source s,al ocal foundation and th eM ichigan Department of Transportation, which stepped in with an extra $1.1 millio n wh en bids fo r th e project came in over estimates, Michigan planners said.

Once th eM ichigan portion o f th e trail is finishe d, n early half the trail will be built. The remaining sections in Indiana could be built by 2030, or earlier, said Mitch Barloga with the Northwestern Indiana Regional Planning Commission.