Trail boosters licking their chops.

You may have heard the good news coming out of Congress earlier this summer: In a rare bit of good form, pushed by good people like Rep. Vern Ehlers, West Michigan will get more than $9 million for recreational trail projects. That money was made available by passage of the federal transportation bill and was lauded by biking and trail enthusiasts across the country. The $286 billion transportation bill will up the ante for recreational trail development nationally over the next five years. Funding is to rise to $370 million, about $100 million more than the last go-round in 1998. "It's tremendous," said Peter DeBoer, the new executive director for the West Michigan Trails/Greenways Coalition. "We haven't received any funding like this ever before in West Michigan."

$9 million over five years.
The $9.024 million is slated for a variety of projects including M-6/Paul Henry Trail, the Musketawa Trail, White Pine Trail, Fred Meijer Heartland Trail and Flat River Trail. It is money that will be doled out over five years, 40 percent available the first year. The only catch is that the trail money requires a 20-percent local match. That's right, nearly $2 million in local money will be required to be able to spend the federal dollars. Given these trying fiscal times, where municipalities can't even afford to fix their roads, one might wonder: Where's the good news? Again, enter DeBoer and his now four-year-old organization.

Fund drive in progress.
"We have a capital campaign going that will address the local match requirement and much more," said DeBoer, outlining a vigorous goal of "$25 million for West Michigan trailways from Alma to Pentwater and south to Saugatuck. "We have 150 miles on the ground now and we'd like to add 137 miles. We hope to create a huge loop around West Michigan." Pie in the sky? Maybe not. The coalition, which includes influential and get-it-done groups like the Friends of the White Pine Trail, professional planners, environmental groups and municipalities, already has raised more than $200,000 from community foundations for trail projects. DeBoer said $100,000 is going to help Kent County build a quarter-mile trail connecting Millennium Park with Kent Trails -- work that is being done right now. The Friends of the White Pine Trail, have a proven track record as well. The group raised another $100,000 some years back to help fund the trail bridge that was built over West River Drive. DeBoer said the group's nearly $26 million capital campaign includes the $9 million-plus from the federal government, plus another $11 million from state coffers. That would be either federal money given to the state for transportation projects or the Natural Resources Trust Fund. That leaves $6 million for the group to cover in order to meet the required local match. DeBoer declined to say just how far along the group is toward meeting that goal, but he did say: "We are well on our way." The community foundation money the group raised will be doled out to 11 other projects besides Kent County -- including $20,000 to the city of Muskegon. The city is working on funding its Laketon Trail, a planned connector along Laketon Road, which will hook up with the Musketawa Trail (Marne to Muskegon) and bring people into the city of Muskegon. "There will be just a mile of this trail to go after this," said DeBoer. "We hope to make a big loop that would go Holland to Muskegon to Grand Rapids to Holland. And that is just Phase I for the group. DeBoer said the coalition also has a Phase II plan. It has its collective eyes set on a goal of 500 miles of trail on the ground. Pie in the sky?
Maybe not. It is certainly good news that West Michigan has such an active group of trail enthusiasts, people that work hard to make the necessary connections -- in order to put trails on the ground and to secure whatever funding is available for them.
Friday, September 09, 2005 By Howard Meyerson The Grand Rapids Press

'Southbelt Shuffle' celebrates freeway, promotes M-6 trail
Friday, September 24, 2004
By Barton Deiters The Grand Rapids Press

Usually strolling along a major highway is reserved for those whose cars break down or run out of gas.
On Oct. 2, people can wander along a stretch of the soon-to-open South Beltline.
Bike-riders, joggers and walkers are invited to get a pavement-level view of the $600 million project that will stretch 20 miles from Int. 96 in Cascade Township to Int. 196 in Hudsonville. It's expected to open before the snow flies this year.
The Michigan Department of Transportation is allowing people to walk, run or bike a stretch of unopened highway starting near Kalamazoo Avenue SE, much like August 2000, when 4,000 people walked U.S. 131's S-curve before its reopening.
The event, called the "Southbelt Shuffle," will promote the M-6 Trail.
The South Beltline was designed to accommodate the trail from Hudsonville to Kentwood where it would hook up with the Thornapple/Paul Henry Trail that runs southeast through Barry and Eaton counties.
Plans call for the trail to be connected to the Kent Trails system and the Ottawa County trails system to the west, according to Chris Dingman, senior transportation planner with the Grand Valley Metropolitan Council.
Eventually, the trail would allow a biker or extremely motivated hiker to go virtually from the Lakeshore to Lansing, Dingman said.
Planning for the M-6 Trail began in 2000 when local municipalities teamed up with the Metro Council to get state approval to use part of the state's unused right-of-way aquired for the South Beltline project.
"The funding is really the question here," Dingman said. "That will determine when the trail will open."
U.S. Rep. Vern Ehlers, R-Grand Rapids, has inserted an item into the contentious federal transportation bill that would fund the $3 million price tag for paving and completing the trail. However, there is no such provision in the Senate version and political wrangling makes it unclear when trail funding will come through.
The study required for the trail is complete and parts of it have been graded, but the trail will not open until it is paved, a prospect that could be months or years away.
That is not the case for the South Beltline, which is expected to be finished almost four years ahead of its initial schedule.
"Some 35 years ago, I said I wouldn't live long enough to see the South Belt open," said Don Hilton, Gaines Township supervisor and the person who got the ball rolling on the M-6 Trail back in 2000.
Hilton said he wanted to be sure that when the ribbon of highway went through southern Kent County that there was a way to connect Kent Trails with the Paul Henry/Thornapple Trail.
"I felt it would be a horrible mistake not to tie those two trails together," he said.
Since that time, Hilton has brought other municipalities, the county road commission, Metro Council and even the Rapid bus authority on board to support the project.
He said there also will be an opportunity for people to buy T-shirts at the Southbelt Shuffle, proceeds from which will go toward trail maintenance and other expenses.