Trails in the News - Press Clipping Files

10/24/2007

Where there's a Wheel, there's a Way

Petoskey News Review Editorial

Story updated: Tuesday, October 23, 2007 10:48 AM EDT

The Little Traverse Wheelway has cost taxpayers millions of dollars to build. And like anything else created by mankind, it costs money to keep that expensive amenity in good order.

A three-mile segment of the Little Traverse Wheelway trail between Petoskey and Harbor Springs is closed for a month-long maintenance and drainage improvement project this fall. The portion of the recreation path is between Indian Hills Gallery and Pleasantview Roads.

Emmet County is responsible for trail maintenance in this area. The contract and some additional work is costing Emmet County around $32,000.

Since the 1970s, public- and private-sector advocates have worked together to arrange the recreation trail around Little Traverse Bay. To date, millions of dollars from several levels of government have been invested to develop the path used by bicyclists, joggers, walkers and inline skaters.

Along the route between Charlevoix and Harbor Springs, trail maintenance is a task that’s handled by multiple governments and private organizations. In some areas, the pathway is cleaned and the grass along it cut weekly during the warm season. In others, routine upkeep is spotty.

Last spring a News-Review story highlighted the hodgepodge nature of the bike path jurisdictions and the efforts by various governmental and private organizations to keep the trail maintained.

While state and federal grant funds paid the large majority of construction costs along the Wheelway, which currently spans about 25 miles, there is no state or federal money to keep it repaired.

Unlike the local and state road systems, no system exists to raise money. It’s up to each jurisdiction — groups and governments which agreed to provide maintenance when we took the money to build the route — to find their own way.

The work Emmet County is conducting right now is the result of a casino revenue matching grant. The grant was for $25,000 and the county commission matched that, but county controller Lyn Johnson said unused funds will be returned to the revenue sharing board.

We’re pleased that the work has started. This segment of the trail seems particularly prone to road debris and sand on the blacktop. Coupled with what appears to the layman as lackadaisical routine mowing and sweeping maintenance by the county, the segment is one of the most problematic on the entire route.

Emmet’s work today could be just a one-shot deal. There is nothing set aside for needs in the future and routine maintenance is lumped in with the general parks budget.

Another summer has come and gone. Trail-wide, not much, if anything, appears to be in the works to solve the problem of paying for and conducting maintenance year to year along the 25-mile route.

Perhaps over the winter, when trail use demand is dormant, interested parties could get their heads together and brainstorm ways to keep the trail up to standard.

Catch-up repairs. Hit-and-miss maintenance. A quilt-work of groups responsible for a public infrastructure. Clearly that can’t be a long-term solution.

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