Eagle1

One of the better ideas coming out of Lansing:

https://www.clickondetroit.com/news/M...x/-/index.html

skijor

That would be fantastic. Some tricky hurdles for sure..."Also intended for hikers and snowmobilers". Some of Wisconsin's more northern trails are multi-use. Gotta take horse and ATV people into account too. ATVs can damage a trail to the point of making it unrideable on a bike. Hopefully those are banned from the trail. And hopefully the base will be limestone. Paving would be too expensive but damn sweet. Some of WI northern trails use rotten granite. It's rideable but realistically, you'd want a hybrid with at least 35c.

I sure hope this pans out. Kudos to Gov. Synder for pushing for this in this economy.

BTW, your second link is broken.

cincyenginerd

I hail from the Cincinnati area, which has an excellent 80ish-mile paved rail trail (the Little Miami trail), and I believe Ohio was trying to connect that trail to other trails in the state. It was about 10 feet wide throughout, with plenty of grassy shoulder area for horses. I would hope they would create some ATV/snowmobile shoulder space, rather than have those ride on the main path.

It would be fantastic to see the MI legislature push this through and devote some real resources to it.

rvk5150

Awesome!

fishtoes2000

I wouldn't get too hung on the details of use yet. This is still quite conceptual. It looks like most of the UP route is on the North Country Trail, which sometimes prohibits bicycles and almost always prohibits motorized use. I also didn't think the Midland to Mackinaw trail was an ideal surface for biking. There are many details and routings to work out, at least north of Oakland County.

I've been working with the State on the trail segments in Metro Detroit and none will allow motorized use. From Sterling Heights/Warren and south, you can expect mostly bike lanes with only a couple exceptions.

So far, I haven't heard of any funding. The Michigan Legislature is fortunately not involved at this stage.

DougG

That plan has definitely not been that well thought out. The more likely long trail that is already on its way is the Great Lake to Lake Trail that will knit together a number of existing and proposed segments to cross the state from South Haven to Port Huron (see the Michigan Trails and Greenways site for more details).

Some of the better known piecess already in place include the Kal-Haven, Falling Waters, Lakeland, Huron Valley, West Bloomfield, Clinton River, and Macomb Orchard trails. It will be a mix of paved and crushed limestone, so maybe not fully accessible to road bikes.

lowracer1

Yes, if snowmobiles get on it with the studded tracks, say bye bye to riding bicycles on it....

finelargeaxe

HUZZAH! I'd gladly work on this for minimum wage if they'd extend it down south through Monroe to the Ohio line.

...and say hello to riding mountain bikes on it! KNOBBIES FTW!

...In all seriousness, though. How much damage are we talking, here?

fishtoes2000

From what I see, this is a non-issue for this proposed trail. The trail segments open to sleds are crushed limestone. Even if there were paved trail segments, the DNR has partnered with the MSA to develop an asphalt mix that is more resistant to studded snowmobile damage.

I'll also add that the recently released Michigan Comprehensive Trails Plan calls this a hiking trail. I've submitted comments on this and I would encourage folks to do the same. Michigan doesn't need another long distance, through-hiking trail for which there's little demand. There's much more demand for long distance bike trails.
https://www.michigan.gov/dnr/0,4570,7...382---,00.html

As for Monroe, we are working on a U.S. Bicycle Route that will connect this trail to Monroe and Ohio. I'm also trying to get these connected to Ontario with bike access on the new Detroit-Windsor bridge.