South Bend honors former Mayor Stephen Luecke with Coal Line Trail updates
SOUTH BEND — When Stephen Luecke was still South Bend's mayor, he recalls, a company sought to revamp an old railroad route that once carried coal to the University of Notre Dame. The firm also proposed running vintage South Shore Line rail cars from the train station to campus, particularly on football weekends.
Luecke, whose tenure from 1997 to 2012 makes him the city's longest-serving mayor, was a prominent skeptic of the idea. The company lacked a solid plan to fix an old railroad bridge that crossed the St. Joseph River, he said. The university was moving away from coal as a power source. And neighbors on the city's northwest side were wary of trains running near their homes.
Standing on that bridge Thursday on the Stephen J. Luecke Coal Line Trail, the former mayor said he'd figured the old coal line could find a better use. This week, city officials marked the completion of the trail's $7 million second phase, which extended it from Riverside Drive across the river to connect with a trail system along State Road 933.
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"We really did a broad city plan focused on neighborhoods but also focused on the river, to say, 'How can we take more advantage of this beautiful asset?'" Luecke said of a five-year initiative he oversaw during his mayoral tenure. "And part of it was developing a trail system the full length of the river."
City and state officials honored Luecke at the bridge on a chilly spring morning Thursday, noting his advocacy for South Bend's parks system. At the end of Luecke's 15-year tenure, the National Civic League named South Bend an All-America City for the second time in its history.
South Bend leaders began to outline a vision for the Coal Line Trail in 2016. Construction is 80% funded by the federal government and 20% funded by the city of South Bend.
The first phase of the Coal Line Trail, which opened in November 2022, runs from Lincoln Way West to Riverside Drive. Construction for a final phase connecting the trail to the new Martin Luther King Jr. Dream Center on Linden Avenue likely won't begin until 2026, according to Chris Dressel, a planner in South Bend's Department of Community Investment. The Dream Center is set to open in February 2025.
Once it's finished, the 2.1-mile Coal Line Trail will connect South Bend's west side to the University of Notre Dame. Luecke said that connection is crucial for a healthy community.
"Having connectivity is such a great thing for our community. My wife and I love to bike on our tandem (bicycle)...," Luecke said of himself and his wife, Peg. "To have safe places that you can do that is really the basis of a budding, growing community."
Email South Bend Tribune city reporter Jordan Smith at JTsmith@gannett.com. Follow him on X: @jordantsmith09
This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: South Bend Coal Line Trail named after Mayor Stephen Luecke
