Union Township shows unanimous support for $28 million bike trail project

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A $10 million grant is within reach for one area pathway organization since receiving a letter of support Wednesday from Union Township’s Planning Commission.

The Mid Michigan Community Pathway Group is plotting to connect the Fred Meijer Heartland Trail and Alma to the Pere Marquette Rail-Trail in Clare through a $28 million bike trailway project. The township’s letter was signed by Commission Secretary Alex Fuller and Township Supervisor John Barker.

“There’s some concrete discussions about what this would look like,” said Commissioner John Dinse. “It’s not just a vision; (it’s a) very developed concept about what the pathway would look like from Clare to Ithaca.”

The targeted grant comes from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

Intersecting Union Township, Ithaca, Alma, St. Louis, Shepherd, Mount Pleasant and Clare, the finished bike path will run along the Old US-27 road
The path is a Michigan Department of Transportation project and an effort to improve the walkability of the Union Township community.

“It’s all within (MDOT’s) rightaways and within their scope of authority in the state,” said Woody Woodruff, Union Township zoning administrator.

Though support was unanimously given, Woodruff voiced Gratiot County’s concerns about the future upkeep of the trail once constructed.

“Ongoing maintenance is always an issue,” he said. “It’s one thing to get it built and another to maintain it.”

Commissioner Philip Squattrito echoed those concerns by questioning the future costs Union Township would have to address with the maintenance of the trail.

Woodruff said that citizen volunteer efforts would more than likely play a part in construction and possibly maintenance of the path.

“These type of things usually roll out with a large level of community involvement,” he said.

Though the motion of support has been approved, the project details will still have to a further planning process.