Proposed Fruitport Road bike path gains momentum

Wed, Jul 16, 2008

SPRING LAKE TOWNSHIP — A proposed bike path that would extend east from Fruitport Road is gaining mental and emotional support, even though no asphalt has been poured for it.

Jack Ketchum, a Spring Lake Township planning commissioner and a member of Friends of the North Bank Trail, told the Township Board on Monday night that plans are forthcoming to build a nonmotorized trail from Fruitport Road (across the road from Lakeside Trail in Spring Lake Village) to 144th Avenue.

"Our eventual goal is a trail to hook up with the Musketawa Trail," Ketchum said.

The Musketawa Trail runs from Muskegon to Marne.

Ketchum said plans are to use the abandoned railroad that runs parallel to M-104 for the east-west connector trail. Although much of the railroad right of way is intact, he said some property easements need to be obtained because of buildings and private property build-up.

"We'd like to start with a paved section from Fruitport Road to Hathaway Lakes (a recent Crockery Township residential development)," Ketchum said. "That's where we'd like to build momentum for this."

Ketchum said Friends of the North Bank Trail has been meeting for almost two years. Cost estimates from a year ago were $55,000 to pave a path from 144th Avenue to 148th Avenue, and $95,000 to lay asphalt from 144th to the Hathaway Lakes development. Ketchum said his group is in the process of getting estimates for the Fruitport Road to 144th Avenue portion of the proposed path.

Grants may be key to the project's fruition, he said.

The city of Coopersville and West Michigan Trails and Greenways group each pledged $5,000 grants toward the project. State funds may be an option, he added, although state funding places tighter restrictions on bike path requirements such as its width.

Ketchum said he hopes the bike path extension can begin this fall if enough interested parties come through with grants and donations.

"Once you get a little piece going, there's a little domino effect and it starts going strong," he said.

Ketchum said Spring Lake Village, the city of Grand Haven, and townships of Spring Lake, Crockery, Polkton and Chester have pledged their support for the bike path extension — although not formally with money.

Spring Lake Township Supervisor John Nash said the township has agreed to donate township-owned land from 144th to 148th for the proposed project.

Nash said the proposed path would not allow snowmobile traffic during the winter, which the Musketawa Trail allows on its similar 10-foot-wide path.

"Right now, this is all a 'wish book' until there's something on the ground," Nash said. "We have a lot of great people with great ideas. Once something is on the ground, things will rock."

To make a donation for the trail, call Lukas Hill at 844-2110.