Harbor Springs fundraising goal set to extend Little Traverse Wheelway

Karly Graham, The Petoskey News-Review
·2 min read
The purple outline highlights the proposed addition to the Little Traverse Wheelway.
The purple outline highlights the proposed addition to the Little Traverse Wheelway.

HARBOR SPRINGS — The Harbor Springs City Council heard updates regarding the potential extension of the Little Traverse Wheelway to bring the biking trail into the downtown area.

Back in November, the city announced plans to fundraise to try to extend the bike path, which currently ends in Kosequat Park, underneath a spillway tunnel that would allow people to safely travel across M-119. The extension is expected to cost around $800,000.

More: Harbor Springs fundraising to extend Little Traverse Wheelway

The city has worked in collaboration with Harbor Inc. to try to extend the wheelway.

After more than 20 years — Harbor Inc. conducted the original feasibility study in 2003 looking for alternative routes for the bike path, according to agenda materials — the city has received approval from the Michigan Department of Transportation to move forward with the planned route. They had originally declined until a hydrology study, which was done by Harbor Inc., was conducted.

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The proposed path for the extension would run along the baseball fields and skate park to M-119, where the path would then head west, crossing Hoyt Street and looping up to the Shay Drain to connect to the spillway, leading to a crossing under M-119. The new path would then connect to the already existing bike path, which leads down Zoll Street to Bay Street.

The approved path came as a result of negotiations between MDOT and the city to get a permit to use the spillway as a bike path, city manager Victor Sinadinoski said during Monday's city council meeting. A future goal is to also extend the bike path on Bay Street.

There are plans to apply for grants as well to help fund the project.

For more information on the extension, visit cityofharborsprings.com/harbor-way-little-traverse-wheelway-extension.

— Contact reporter Karly Graham at kgraham@petoskeynews.com. Follow her on Twitter at @KarlyGrahamJRN. 

This article originally appeared on The Petoskey News-Review: Harbor Springs fundraising goal set to extend Little Traverse Wheelway