Village's Lakeside Trail extension opens

Thu, Jul 2, 2009    to del.icio.us

SPRING LAKE — About 20 runners from the Spring Lake High School boys and girls cross country teams were the first to officially beat the path Wednesday on the extended Lakeside Trail.

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Village officials held a ceremonial ribbon-breaking ceremony on the paved trail behind Arby's restaurant Wednesday morning.

The 2,000-foot extension fills a gap behind Arby's west to Old Boys Brewhouse, connecting the 2-mile-long trail through the village to the drawbridge connector path to the west and a path that loops around Spring Lake.

The extension project cost about $220,000. Nearly half of the funding came from a state clean air grant.

"It's been a long hard fight for these 2,000 feet — but it is not the end, it is only the beginning," Village President Bill Filber said Wednesday morning. "And this stimulates what we're going to do as a community for our young people that live here, because we need the growing safe community for all of us — from the senior citizens to the young ones."

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Aaron Andres, the SLHS girls cross country coach, said the longer path means the teams can extend their practice runs into Ferrysburg and back into Spring Lake from underneath the drawbridge.

"Not only as a community, but for our kids, it's just a safe passage for us to be able to run and jog and just enjoy the area," Andres said. "And a lot of people don't realize it's a big issue. When people are out running, it's a safety issue — especially when you have a pretty busy road like we do here in town."

Village Manager Ryan Cotton said landscaping and additional signage is not yet complete along the path extension.