The City of Flint is connecting its trails and greenways for citizens to enjoy. | Pixabay
The City of Flint is connecting its trails and greenways for citizens to enjoy. | Pixabay
Flint is completing its final portion of the Iron Belle Trail and the Grand Traverse Greenway, a 3-mile trail connecting the Flint River and Genesee Valley trails.
The upcoming property acquisition by the City of Flint will complete the 18-mile path, which will extend from Belle Isle in Detroit to Ironwood in the Upper Peninsula.
“Completion of this trail helps to celebrate the beauty of Flint. Walking and biking trails are building blocks for a happy, healthy community,” said Mayor Sheldon Neeley to the City of Flint. “Plus this project will be a major asset for other ongoing economic development efforts.”
The Flint Department of Planning and Development is developing the $3 million project with funding from the Michigan Department of Natural Resources, Choice Neighborhoods and other fundraising efforts.
The city received funding in 2009 to begin the project, and construction is expected to begin in 2021, with completion in 2023.
“This project has been 10-plus years in the making,” Suzanne Wilcox, director of the Department of Planning and Development, told the City of Flint.
On June 24, Flint City Council approved the purchase and sale agreement of 47 acres of land for $525,000 owned by CSX (a supplier of rail-based freight transportation) to finish the trail from Pengelly and Hemphill Roads to Kearsley and Grand Traverse Streets.
“We are ecstatic to have reached an agreement with CSX,” Wilcox said, according to the City of Flint.
This portion will lead trail-goers to a variety of community assets, such as Chevy Commons, downtown Flint, the Flint Cultural Center, Genesee Valley Mall, Stepping Stones Falls and Bluebell Beach.
“The trail, once completed, will leverage more than $50 million of neighborhood improvements and development. This offers a nonmotorized option for residents and visitors to explore our city and see all Flint has to offer,” Wilcox told the City of Flint.
The trail is a vital part of the Choice Neighborhoods Initiative, a $30 million effort funded through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to create housing for residents of Atherton East, a 192-unit complex on the city's south side, which has been in disrepair for years.
Critical Community Improvements will also hold $4.5 million of funding, which is being used to leverage an additional $21 million in support from other partners, used for extensive neighborhood revitalization — commercial and residential demolition, commercial facade improvement, housing rehabilitation, vacant lot reuse, placemaking, park improvements and construction of the new trail.
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