A lot of people have long dreamed of having a paved bicycle/pedestrian trail along a picturesque section of Scenic Drive between Muskegon State Park and Duck Lake State Park.
Now the effort to fund the project has gotten off the ground, and while it may be optimistic, at least one local official loves the idea of potentially having a finished trail coincide with a historic anniversary.
Scenic Drive will be 100 years old in 2027, and Fruitland Township supervisor Jeff Marcinkowski thinks it would be fitting to have the trail in place to mark the centennial.
“We could have a great celebration,” he said.
Nobody really knows if that kind of timetable is realistic, but the first step is identifying funds for the expensive project, and that is underway.
The Fruitland Township board, in conjunction with the Laketon Township board, recently voted to officially apply for an appropriation from the U.S. Congress to fund the project, which currently has a price tag of more than $9 million.
The two boards are working together to secure the funds because the trail would be located in both townships.
The proposed trail, extending from Fenner Road on the northern border of Muskegon State Park, and extending north to Duck Lake Road near Duck Lake State Park, would cover about 3.85 miles of a stretch of Scenic Drive that extends along the Lake Michigan shoreline. The trail would be 10 feet wide and paved with asphalt.
The project would address both safety concerns and the recreational desires of many people who want to walk or ride bicycles along the stretch.
“There are no shoulders along the road – just gravel on each side – which makes it kind of hazardous to bike along and walk along,” Marcinkowski said.
A lot of citizens have been expressing interest in having a trail along the route for some time, Marcinkowski said.
The interest eventually led to the development of a citizens advisory committee for grant research and writing, which in turn formed the Scenic Drive Safe Streets Initiative.
The two townships paid to have a feasibility study done for the project, but nothing else has been funded so far.
“There has been a public request for something like this since the mid-1990s,” said Marcinkowski, who added the Michigan Department of Natural Resources and Muskegon County Road Commission support the project. “People have been asking about it and talking about it. It’s a popular road, a very beautiful stretch.”
The effort to completely fund the project could be a long one, however.
Township officials have been working through U.S. Rep. John Moolenaar’s office to secure congressional funding.
One nice thing about a congressional appropriation is that it would not require local matching funds, which is usually the case for government or private grants.
“It all depends on how they review things in Washington and if they believe there’s a need,” Marcinkowski said. “We may get something, but there are no guarantees.”
Even if Moolenaar is successful in securing federal dollars for the trail, there’s no telling how much would be forthcoming.
There is a real possibility that some money will show up from Washington, D.C., but that could fall far well short of the total $9.074 million price tag, according to Marcinkowski.
“His sweet spot seems to be about $1.5 million to $2 million – that seems to be Congressman Moolenaar’s range,” Marcinkowski said.
Partial funding would be a victory, because it would demonstrate progress and might make it easier for the townships to find grant money to pay for the rest of the project.
“The appropriations request went in first and is kind of like a springboard for everything else,” Marcinkowski said. “Once you show people you mean business, you can seek grants or donations.”
If partial funding from Congress arrives, a decision would have to be made about doing some of the construction while waiting to secure the rest of the money, or holding on to the dollars until the full amount is on hand.
“Sometimes you want to hold that (money) there and just say we have this amount,” Marcinkowski said. “The other thought is, why not take whatever amount we have and put it into the project, so people can see that you did something? But with that you run the risk of having a partial trail that’s not very long, and then spending years wondering where the rest of the money will come from.”
