Huntwood Meadows

Two New Rails-To-Trails for Southeast Michigan Gain Ground

Jun 23, 2002

The Clinton River Trail project, on the abandoned Canadian National Line (stretch of railroad track), which runs from Sylvan Lake to Rochester gained momentum in December 2001 when the City of Auburn Hills purchased their 2.1 mile section and the City of Rochester was awarded a Natural Resources Trust Fund grant to acquire their 2 mile piece. The other communities involved, including Sylvan Lake, Pontiac, and Rochester Hills are currently seeking funding assistance to enable conversion of the whole corridor in Oakland County into a 12-mile multi-use trail.

Meanwhile, the Macomb Orchard Trail in Macomb County, which is the 19-mile Macomb County section of the same CN line, gained critical ground in January when Macomb County commissioners formally decided to explore the possibility of purchasing the entire corridor within their boundaries. A final decision from this study is expected within the next few months.

These two new trails form a critical east-west linkage in Southeast Michigan, with future connections to the already heavily used Paint Creek, and West Bloomfield trails, along with the developing Polly Ann Trail and Huron Valley Trail.

Indeed, this combined 31-mile trail could form the basis for a cross-state trail connecting Lake St. Clair to Lake Michigan.

- taken from the web, by Matt Swigart