Water Street Trail opens near downtown Ypsilanti

Wednesday, October 6, 2010 | Source: Concentrate

Work has gone better than expected on Ypsilanti's Water Street Trail, which means people are taking advantage of the walking trail while there's still good weather to be had this year.

Part of the boost came from $2,000 in funding from the Washtenaw County Department of Health via the Building Healthy Communities program, which makes areas more walkable and accessible to non-motorized transportation. Part of that grant was also used to secure the help of TSP Environmental to do the physical labor to construct the new stretch of trail, work that would have been almost impossible to do by hand, says Andrew Clock, project coordinator for the Water Street Trail.

"It's actually gone better than we could have possibly imagined," he says. "Everything has fallen into place, from getting the grant to getting the work done."

The Water Street Trail, which follows the north shore of the Huron River from the Michigan Avenue Bridge to Park Street, is only between 100 and 150 yards long but serves as a connector and will likely eventually become part of the Border-to-Border Trail, a larger, county-wide trail network.

The path is made of crushed concrete, which allows for it to become a trail bed when it does become part of the Border to Border Trail. "Most of their work is already done," he says. "The trail built can act as a trail bed for a paved area."

Washtenaw County Parks and Recreation will be providing signage indicating that the path is a future stretch of the Border to Border trail, and it's planning for a grand opening sometime at the end of October. Another work day is scheduled for Nov. 6, a kind of fall cleanup day to remove any trash that had been hidden by foliage. Clock also expects that trail organizers will meet one more time to talk about what to do in the spring, including what people have interest in, and how to improve. "We're pleasantly surprised at the amount of people already back there using the trail," he says. "There are quite a few people using it already."

Clock says part of the goal of the project is to put a positive spin on Water Street, a point of contention between the city and potential developers. "We want developers, we want people to see Water Street as something valuable, something useful, a good piece of waterfront property," he says. "There is still value in the area, and hopefully someday that will lead to development."

For information about the plan or to volunteer, e-mail Clock at waterstreetparkypsi@gmail.com or click here.

Source: Andrew Clock, project coordinator for the Water Street Trail
Writer: Kristin Lukowski