New B2B Segment Completes Pathway
The Border-to-Border Trail is getting closer to completion.
A new section of the Border-to-Border Trail (B2B) from Chelsea’s Timbertown Park north to Werkner Rd was officially opened Wed. Oct. 26. The B2B is the ongoing shared-pathway project overseen by Washtenaw County Parks & Rec and Huron Waterloo Pathways Initiative (HWPI).
“If you haven’t been on it, you really need to,” said Jeff Hardcastle, Board Chair for HWPI. “It’s a cool section of trail, about a mile and a half total,” “I think it might set some kind of engineering record. Between here at Sibley up to the crossing, I think there are 17 changes in direction. Everybody likes the zigs and zags, So check that out.”
This newest segment connects to other parts of the trail constructed over the past several years to create a 6.3-mile shared pathway from Chelsea to Lyndon Twp Hall located on N Territorial Rd. Plans for 2023 include extending the trail north another 1.5 miles toward the county line to Boyce Rd.
The Border-to-Border Trail gets its name from the idea of a continuous shared pathway from one end of Washtenaw County to the other. Currently, the trail comprises 35 miles of non-contiguous segments across the county. But the completion is near, with only about nine more miles to go.
The building of the B2B has been and continues to be a stunning amalgamation of private and public partners, which include Washtenaw Co Parks & Rec, MDOT, the Ralph C. Wilson, Jr. Foundation, DNR, Trinity Health, MEDC, local townships and cities, and private donors. The Timbertown segment involved these groups, the City of Chelsea, and more than 240 private donors.
Two local families played a big part in getting the Timbertown-Werkner section built. Kurt and John Riegger agreed on an easement across their scenic, deer-filled farmland that has been in their family for nearly 100 years. Chelsea resident Lynn Fox helped kick-start the new segment by approaching HWPI with an offer for an easement for the B2B on her property across the road from Timbertown.
“I was seeing kids and families going up M52 trying to get to that trail,” says Lynn. “It was too dangerous, and I had the perfect solution to get them off M52.”
Parking for the new segment is available at Veterans Park on the corner of N Main and Sibley and Timbertown Park just down the street on Sibley.
