A new bike trail through the Indiana Dunes National Park may take a bit longer than expected. The Marquette Greenway Trail will provide a continuous, 60-mile trail from Chicago to Michigan. But it's actually made up of dozens of segments, with different funding sources and different government entities overseeing them.
Now, Porter County has decided to temporarily hold off on two of its segments that would replace the gravel Calumet Trail with a new paved route through the national park, as construction logistics drive up the cost. "Still got a few things to do, plus, you've got to deal with the Indiana bat and the trees," Interim Development & Storm Water Director Mike Jabo told the county commissioners last week. "We can't take the trees down after a period of time, which won't get done by then. And we're also looking for other funding sources for that project, to kind of reduce the load on the county for its match,"
Those segments got Next Level Trails funding from the state, but Commissioner Barb Regnitz said the county still needs to come up with another $4 million. "We don't see a path to be able to do that [this year], pun intended."
The county has until the end of 2026 to spend the Next Level Trails funding.
For now, Jabo wants to use the half-million dollars in American Rescue Plan funds available for the trail to focus on four other segments that are further along. The commissioners approved a contract with DLZ for up to $275,350 for construction engineering on a section near Beverly Shores. Jabo said he'd have a clearer financial picture after construction bids were opened later last week.
The commissioners also donated a temporary right of way to the city of Valparaiso for the construction of its Barrel District Trail. The first phase would run along the east side of Napoleon Street from Indiana Avenue south across the railroad tracks. It would then head west off-road to the Journeyman Distillery site, according to Valparaiso Planning Director Beth Shrader.
"So this is an important link," Shrader told the commissioners. "It gets people safely across the railroad tracks and will bring the Barrel District into the downtown."
Future phases would extend the trail east on Indiana Avenue past the Memorial Opera House. The commissioners plan to continue discussing the project and the construction's impact on access to the county parking garage, during an administration meeting on Wednesday.
