Phase I of new path in Northfield Township opens

[Bike Writer]

Finally and at long last after over two years in the making the first phase of a non motorized pathway in our township just opened Friday with a ribbon cutting.

This is a teeny tiny baby step in the overall scheme of things as far as paths go but it's our very first step in a long road to a network of paths connecting various parts of our community and the first baby step in connecting to other existing trails in neighboring communities. The long range plan is to tie this to the rail trail from the Lake Michigan western boundry of Michigan to the Lake St. Clair eastern boundry of Michigan. Additionally our county has a long range plan of a border to board trail and we expect this to tie to that eventually as well. There are portions of that in existence currently and each new segement works to complete the plan.

Ann Arbor is near the heart of our county and the biggest population base of it, that community has a large cycling component and one of the largest clubs in all of Michigan The Ann Arbor Bicycle Touring Society. Our township is a direct link from Ann Arbor to the East West rail trail across the state and being able to serve as a link will be a big ecconomic boom to our community when this is realized.

With enormous pride, I cut the ribbon on our first phase Friday! I have several blog posts and photos about this trail on my blog.

[wackyjacky1]

Awesome!!! Isn't it cool when your town makes the decision to become bike/activity friendly? San Antonio has made HUGE strides over the last couple of years, to the point where we will soon have a network of hike/bike paths ("greenways") that completely circle the city, as well as a hike/bike path that links all the museums and missions -- not to mention the hugely successful bike-sharing program (which has recently added more stations due to demand). It is fabulous, and something I never expected to see in this sleepy little town. Yay for forward thinking!

[Bike Writer]

Awesome!!! Isn't it cool when your town makes the decision to become bike/activity friendly? San Antonio has made HUGE strides over the last couple of years, to the point where we will soon have a network of hike/bike paths ("greenways") that completely circle the city, as well as a hike/bike path that links all the museums and missions -- not to mention the hugely successful bike-sharing program (which has recently added more stations due to demand). It is fabulous, and something I never expected to see in this sleepy little town. Yay for forward thinking!

It is indeed cool when a community decides to become bike and activity friendly and it's that much more AWESOME when you can lead the initiative and be in a position to make that happen. I am the township supervisor and have nurtured this from a dream to a reality. On Friday of the ribbon cutting it felt like I gave birth to this. I still can hardly believe it has become a reality, on Saturday I went back to take photos of the path with out the crowd of people and saw two kids bike riding on it. I nearly cried from joy.

Color me proud.

[shootingstar]

So excellent they had a local person like yourself doing the honours! It's a great feeling of celebration when a bike path opens up for everyone.