New bicycle trail to provide path from New Buffalo to Chicago
A new bicycle trail project will soon provide a path from New Buffalo to Chicago.
A new, easier way to bike from New Buffalo to Chicago. It took the cooperation of three states for this project to come together.
The trail head starts on the corner of Smith and Mechanic in New Buffalo.
But this project was in danger of not proceeding, due to being short some funds.
“We had secured about 5.6 million dollars in grants and local funding, and we had a gap of about 300,000 dollars that we needed to raise to have enough money to implement the Michigan portion of the trail,” said Marcy Hamilton, Advisor to friends of Berrien County Trails.
But a November third give-back dinner in New Buffalo got the donation ball rolling.
Within just six weeks of fundraising efforts, the Marquette Greenway project had exceeded the 300-thousand dollars needed for the next step in this bike trail.
“We were just dumbfounded, we were just so excited because this project has been in the works for well over 10 years, community development projects are slower than baseball, and so when you get to the point that this is a culmination, I can’t even describe how we felt,” said Diane Pyshos, Marquette Greenway fundraising committee volunteer.
The outpouring of support and funds from the community left those in charge of putting the effort together stunned.
They say the season of giving really did live up to its name.
“It made us feel terrific, in every single way possible, because this is a three-state project with multiple communities and it is just such an exciting collaboration of these three states and all these communities and it's very rare,” said Pyshos.
Hamilton added, “It was just amazing that so many people want to see this trail happen and the generosity was incredible so I mean it was just a great feeling to know that there's that much support on a project I had been working on for eight years, so it was just really nice to see that community support.”
The entire project that runs through the three states is expected to be complete by 2027.
