Rain, Rain Go Away !

ALDEN NASH "RIVER"

The day after my previous post, we were hit with a 3.5" rain that had its way with some of the trail sections.  Since then, we have had a few additional good 1+ " rains, but nothing like the earlier gully washer.  We have since recovered, but it will be nice to get all the embankments covered and grass growing!  A special thanks to all the trail neighbors for your continued patience during this "ugly" phase of construction.

The past 2 weeks has focused on closing up the work on the school properties and finishing up the retaining walls on the Alden Nash section.  With that complete, work on the final grading for that section can commence, followed by paving.

In with the New

Out with the Bad

The boardwalks and observation decks are scheduled to be worked on soon after a brief delay in securing the necessary materials.

Some exciting things are happening behind the scenes for the trail.  First, we hope to have a formal trail Grand Opening sometime in early October to be combined with another community event. Details to follow! 

Drainage Improvements

Measuring the Trail

The trail is also going to be a featured day trip for interested attendees to the American Public Planning Association convention being held in October.  The purpose of the trip (besides getting folks to walk off some of their convention food) is to highlight the inner governmental cooperation used to develop this trail as well as the public-private partnership used in the funding.  

HOT Progress on the Trail !

Foreman Street @ Metric Manufacturing

A lot has happened int he past two weeks.   The good news is that there were no heat exhaustion reports from the Contractor  despite the extreme heat conditions over the past 2 weeks.  No time off for these guys, they just kept up the pace! (Thanks!!).    Here is the latest update.

Connection to Flat River Valley Rail Trail - The concrete material has been removed and a pathway has been cleared between the LARA trail and the beginning of the Flat River Valley Rail Trial.  We are still waiting for the railroad to come back and patch the road crossing and install new curbs for the City.

Cherry Creek Elementary

Metric Manufacturing and Cherry Creek Elementary - This section was paved late yesterday and look great!   Next step is to build the boardwalk over the culverts at Gee Drive.

Alden Nash -  This section has seen most of the activity over the past 2 weeks with every trade involved.  The auger piles were placed on the south end for the new boardwalk over the wetlands just north of Gee Drive.  These will be cut down to proper grade and then the framework for the boardwalk can begin.

LEGO BLOCKS

Just north of there, the work on the first of three retaining walls has begun.  This wall will be over 100 feet in length and will hold back the embankment to the east adjacent to the trail.

All of the required storm sewer and underdrains has been installed underground and preliminary work on grading the trail has begun.  The second of the three retaining walls is complete, but you can't see it as it is on the top of the wall is at ground level, holding the trail up from a steep embankment to the east.



The work on the large block retaining wall on Alden Nash, south of Foreman is complete except restoration.  This wall was constructed using large, heavy concrete blocks that clearly were made by the Lego corporation.  Maybe we should have gone with the red/blue/yellow color scheme! 

South Wall North of Foreman

Wege Easement South - Geogrid material was placed in the low areas to better support the trail foundation and the entire stretch was graveled up to the wetland crossing.  This area needs final touch up and will soon be ready for paving.









Wege Easement North - Good news!  The redwing blackbirds have calmed down a bit and are no longer keeping a round the clock watch on this section of trail.  A couple relocated to GR to reek havoc on our big brother to the west.  This section  was paved yesterday and looks great!

Morning Sunrise @ Wege Easement North

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Alden Nash West Section

Alden Nash West to High School - This area is now paved and looks great !!!   Lots of shade for the next hot spell.

High School North to Wittenbach/Wege - This was the first section to be paved and is being used!  The topsoil restoration guys dirtied up the nice black surface, but a good brooming and thunderstorm will make it new again.






Cat tails? -  If you've seen the "galvanized cat tails" in the boardwalk sections and are scratching your head, don't worry, it's OK.  Theses are the auger piles that will hold up the boardwalk sections.  When they are complete and properly trimmed, they will be much shorter, I promise....

Boardwalk Auger Piles

PINK ARROW CONNECTION -  The Lowell Area Recreation Authority Board took an opportunity to pose for a construction photo that will end up on their banner of support for this years version of the Pink Arrow Project, the Lowell area  breast cancer awareness initiative that has gained national attention.  We are excited about opportunties to include the trail in this exciting event that is scheduled this year for September 9th.

LOWELL AREA RECREATION AUTHORITY MEMBERS

Building Walls, Making Connections and Welcoming the Tour!

NO MOTORIZED VEHICLES ALLOWED !!!

This past week, work began in earnest to make the formal connection to the Fred Meijer Flat River Valley Rail trail at Foreman Road in the City of Lowell.  First, the railroad folks showed up and removed the rail crossing in Foreman Street.   While a bit of a gravel mess now, they have met with the City staff and are planning to pave the area as well as install new curbing on both sides.    Contrary to some observations, the pile of concrete you see there now is the old  narrow sidewalk that was removed in front of Metric Manufacturing and is being replaced with the new 10 ft. non-motorized trail.   (hmmmm.... on second thought, it would serve as a very effective barrier from keeping cars off of the rail trail however....)

Cherry Creek Elementary

Base gravel is now in place on the Foreman Street section in front of Cherry Creek Elementary and Metric Manufacturing.   You'll see that we aligned the trail under the trees in front of the school to add a bit of shade for those really hot days!

Example Block Wall

Lots of activity along Alden Nash Road with the installation of the storm sewer system and preliminary grading for the trail.  Work has started on two small retaining walls along this route.  Speaking of block walls, the steel sheet piling that was to be the wall on the north end the Alden Nash section, south of Foreman, will now be a more attractive block wall.   This change is being made due to interference from the overhead power lines that made it difficult to install the sheet pile walls. 

Waiting for the trail to be done !

Each day brings more exciting buzz from local residents excited about the trail.  The die hard walkers are out everyday using the gravel base when they can, eagerly looking forward to the day when they can safely get their 5 mile loop in without walking in the street! 

Storm Sewer Work

Don't forget the 20th annual Michigander Bike Tour is coming to Lowell on July 19th.  Follow the Michigander  in this great article series in the GR Press. If you are not riding, please stop by the Fairgrounds and welcome the riders and partake in the festivities!  We are hoping that with the soon to be completed rail trails and our scenic LARA trail, the Michigander will want to make Lowell a regular part of their itinerary.

MICHIGANDER BIKE TOUR

Celebrated the 4th with first official trail ride!

To cap off a wonderful fun filled holiday weekend, I decided to take my first official bike ride" on the trail from start to finish.  Well, at least as much as as I could.   Here is the status as of tonight.

Rail Trail Connection

Connection to Flat River Valley Rail Trail - The rail crews were out Saturday ripping up the tracks that cross Foreman, so the rail removal is now complete.  Late last week, our crews began to layout the connection from the LARA trail to the rail trail.  This includes preliminary grading in front of Metric Manufacturing, which should be complete this week.

Cherry Creek

Cherry Creek - The path in front of Cherry Creek Elementary was rough graded late last week and the detectable ramps were installed at each intersection.  The connection to the 10 ft. wide sidewalk installed as part of the SAfe Routes project was also made.   Rougn grading contuned west to the corner with Gee Drive where the detectable ramps were installed.  

Gee Drive

Gee Drive - The widening of the existing 5 ft. sidewalk was completed.  It was necessary to cross over inithe middle of this run to avoid trespassing on the Litehouse property and to maximize the distance from their new retention pond.

Alden Nash - Work began last week on the installation of the storm sewer that will assist with the drainage of the road.  While out there last Thursday, I ran into a couple of regular walkers who expressed great joy in the new planned trail!

Alden Nash Walkers

Wege Easement South - No work was pursued on this section last week, as the crews were waiting for things to dry out a bit and they were busy in other areas.

Wege Easement North - This section has not changed since last week, but I was able to ride on the compacted gravel.  A little rough, but certainly a rideable trail.

Alden Nash West - The lower section of this part of the trail is paved and boy does it ride smoooooth.  See the historic first ride video below which documents the pavement quality.  The upper sections are still being graded and lack gravel so the riding was a bit tougher in loose sand, but after all the food consumed this weekend, I needed the workout.

High School North - The section next to the tennis courtas well as the section at the Wittenbach/Wege Center.  The ramps are still being worked on so the crossing is not ready yet.

So, not officially a complete ride, but a ride none the less.  This week looks good weather wise so keep your eyes open for more drastic changes to the trailscape!

First Section Paved !!!, Trial hits the Nightly News!

IT'S PAVED !!!

Just 3 weeks after starting, the first section of trail is paved!  The northernmost part of the trail from the Wittenbach/Wege Center past to the high school was paved today (Section 5 & 6) along with the southern portion of the Alden Nash West section (Section 4).  Word is tomorrow, the northern portion of the Wege easement along Alden Nash (Section 3) will be made black as well.

Grading began today on the widening of the existing walkway on Gee Drive from Foreman to Creekside park. (Section 1) When complete, this will be a 10 ft. wide concrete sidewalk that will connect to the existing Safe Routes to School trail.  Initial grading will begin on the remainder of Section 1 in front of Metric Manufacturing and Cherry Creek Elementary,  and formally connecting to the Fred Meijer Flat River Valley Rail Trail.

First in Trail News !!!

WZZM included the LARA trail in a nice news story on their 6 p.m. broadcast tonight about the economic impact trails are having in West Michigan.  They have also mentioned the project in their My Town section of their web page.  (Thanks Chris !!!)

Gee Drive Widening

Last night, my wife and I walked from the Nature Center to the Wege House and back and saw young cross country runners taking advantage of the gravel based trail...Sign of good things to come!

Gravel & Rain

New Gravel Base

This week saw the completion of the gravel placed on the High School, Alden Nash West, and Wege North Easement areas.  It really looks like a trail and in fact, some brave souls are already riding their bikes on these portions!   They still have work to do on the Alden Nash West section to reduce the steepness of the grade, so don't be alarmed if you walk up that way.

The section in front of Cherry Creek Elementary was staked and approved by the school reps so rough grading should begin there soon.

Grading at H.S. North Section

Behind the scenes, we are reviewing materials for the boardwalks and retaining walls to be built in the coming weeks.

Wege North Gravel Base

Rain has slowed down work a bit this week although everything seemed to hold up just fine in our most recent monsoon.   Next week is calling for great weather so we are looking forward to lots of progress!

School's Out, Trail's Going In !

Gravel Base Section 4

This morning, the first bit of gravel base was being placed on Section 4 of the trail (Alden Nash West to football Parking lot).   At 7:30 a.m. there was a train of trucks ready to drop off material.  This is the base that the asphalt will eventually be placed on.

Wittenbach/Wege Center Neighors

If you wander up to the north end of the high school, you can see the path has been cut from the tennis court parking lot to Vergennes, across the road and to the Wittenbach/Wege Nature Center.  The locals were awake and clucking their approval again this morning.

The concrete was poured for the boardwalk abutments, with the forms already removed on the Wege wetland portion.  I tried to get a few photos, the the Red Wing Blackbirds were not too happy with my early morning intrusion so I backed off.    Based on the amount of tracks I saw, the local deer population is already heavily using the trail!

Vergennes Crossing

Wege House

The path in front of the Wege house has been cleared as well, so you can finally get a good idea of what it will look like. THey will be placing gravel all along the north portion of the Wege easement to day as well.

If you are in a hiking mood, feel free to wander along the those areas that have been cleared this weekend.  It will give you a unique insight as to how these things are built and will give you a good reference point for the progress.  It really is exciting to finally see the trail coming to life!
Go HERE for the slide show if you can't make it out.