News

Update on White Pine Trail Activities

It’s exciting to share this update on all the great things happening on the WPT!

1. Update on the construction of the last 21 miles of paving the White Pine Trail, is that the tree removal process is now about one mile north of Stanwood.
2. At the north end of Cedar Springs, at Cedar Springs Road and Northland Dr a significant housing development has started and will continue for the next few years. But, Cedar Springs Rd is pretty much parallel to the WPT, which creates a major safety issue where the trail crosses the road at Northland Dr. So the Kent County Road Commission is going to reconstruct that intersection. This project is underway and should be completed about the middle of August. Trail users should avoid this intersection during this project.
3. The trail portion in Tustin area, there is a Tustin Triple Culvert, which had a temporary fix done several years ago, but a permanent fix needs to be done. This is where there is a small 20 foot stretch of trail that is not pavedf, but is a very well compacted surface. This culvert project has been bid and a contract awarded, but a construction schedule has not yet been determined. At the point construction starts, a detour route will be posted by the DNR.
4. This next project is a “look ahead to 2024.” Just a short ways north of Paris County Park (about 6 miles north of Big Rapids), a very old small dam attached to a crumbling culvert that goes under the WPT will be removed and likely replaced with a bridge instead of a culvert. Final engineering is not yet complete, so things can change, but this is how things are looking currently. Construction is planned for Spring 2024. The detour around this project is about one-half mile, which will likely put the detour route onto Northland Dr.

There are lots of exciting projects in the works this year and next, which will definitely increase the usage of our great regional (soon to be completely paved) 92-mile White Pine Trail!