The Friends of Berrien County Trails are reflecting on a major milestone in the group’s history as a ribbon cutting approaches for part of the Marquette Greenway this month.
The first roughly three mile stretch of the Chicago to New Buffalo trail is now open after around ten years of work to raise the funds and sign the contracts. The now-completed section goes from downtown New Buffalo south to Grand Beach. Friends President Gary Wood tells us it’s taken a lot of work by a lot of people to get to this point.
“It’s obviously a labor of love because it’s taken years to get to this point, and we’re just ecstatic to have this section done,” Wood said. “You can ride it, you can see it. And it’s just amazing.”
Wood says when he sees people on the trail or hears from those who have been using it, it’s overwhelming to realize what’s been accomplished.
The Friends of Berrien County Trails has been involved in the project for about five years, while the Southwest Michigan Planning Commission’s Marcy Hamilton has been involved for the past decade. She tells us it wasn’t easy to get the Marquette Greenway going, but things did start to fall into place a few years ago.
“I would say in the last like four years, it’s really kind of kicked in,” Hamilton said. “We had a more feasible route and started really moving the needle on getting it implemented.”
So far, about 35 miles of the total 60-mile Marquette Greenway are finished.
While groups in Michigan work on their section, their counterparts in Indiana and Illinois have been doing the same. Wood says there’s already some completed trail in Michigan City, and when Phase II of the Michigan section is done — from Grand Beach to the state line — hikers or bicyclists will be able to go all the way from New Buffalo to Michigan City. Work on that second phase will be this year.
