December 15, 2022
The Border to Border Trail near Gallup Park was riddled with hazardous tree roots snaking through the cracks in the cement. Erosion grooved a difficult path for wheelchair users trying to get through the 4 foot wide path. In 2022, an unrecognizable new slab of pavement replaced the crumbling path thanks to the planning and execution of the Washtenaw County Parks and Recreation Commission who has been upkeeping and expanding an intricate map of trails for decades.
The Border to Border Trail is an 8 to 10- foot wide wheelchair accessible, non-motorized linear park that spans 35 miles from Lyndon Township to Ypsilanti, connecting communities across southern Michigan . The Ypsilanti corridor is 11.67 miles of both sidewalk and road-separated trail that loops by St. Joseph Mercy Ann Arbor Hospital, Depot Town Eastern Michigan University’s GameAbove Center among other destinations.
The initial vision for a green pathway along the Huron river started in the 80’s, then in the 90’s the conversations morphed to planning what would become the Border to Border trail with the goal of a continuous walkway from Ann Arbor to Ypsilanti. The B2B trail exists to stitch together existing path structures, and after the Parks Commissions broke ground in 2001 to connect Washtenaw Community College and St. Joseph Hospital, it didn’t take long for their scope to expand, specifically to the northwest.
In a 2018 survey that assessed Washtenaw county community needs, paved trails topped each of the 7 sub area’s ranking for investments with a Priority Investment Ranking of 199 out of 200, and has dominated for decades. It’s not hard to understand why; taking a walk in green spaces can reduce mental illness effects, increase focus and boost moods according to the American Psychological Association. Of course, walking outdoors is good for our physical health as well. Bone support, vitamin D intake and reducing future risk are reasons enough, but the most important one yet is that it’s fun.
Many Washtenaw county photographers, nature explorers, geocachers and Pokemon Go players frequent the trail, some dedicated to visiting every day. Victor Munoz bikes, runs and walks on the paved path 2 to 3 times a week and is grateful for its convenience.
“It’s a beautiful amenity in town. We’re lucky to have it integrated so well into town,” said Munoz.
While the Border to Border trail’s goal has always been to connect communities, it has also been recognized for its role in somebody’s decision to reduce their carbon footprint. This trail is an important function in Washtenaw’s Board of Commission’s plan to make the city carbon neutral, or reducing emissions to be offset by planted trees, 2035. Action 4.02 in this plan highlights a need to build a county-wide network of non-motorized trails that are maintained during all seasons.
Washtenaw county Park Planner Peter Sanderson is motivated by the effects of their work and feels support from the community,
“We’re not really really convincing most people about why we need the trail, it’s just a matter of the details,” said Sanderson.
27 trail and park projects are in various stages of development simultaneously in Oct 2022, some estimated construction to begin around 2025. The largest time consumer that stalls construction are the sluggish permits and permissions processes that must be approved before a crew can be deployed. The Parks Commission must acquire many permissions concerning the environment alone; coordinating with natural areas preservation wetland clearance, endangered species review, floodplain clearances in relation to the Huron River.
While nearing the end of the permitting process for a 2016 project in Chelsea, the federal government listed the Eastern Massasauga Rattlesnake, native to the midwest, as a federally protected endangered species. Peter and his crew scrambled to work with the US official wildlife service to plan how to minimize harm to that specific species. They were able to decide on snake-proof silt fencing around the perimeter of the worksite, which is also necessary to prevent erosion. While it was an easy repair, this set back the project’s timeline.
Assuming each of those hoops were cleared, agreements from the city in which construction is planned, or multiple cities as a project could span across many townships is essential to the trail’s success. The B2B trail snakes through public land that gets close to some Washtenaw county resident’s land, so communicating with those private property owners is a priority.
Construction always comes with a host of quick changes and unexpected costs. It could be something as small as adding an extra curve to avoid chopping a sturdy tree or a sudden change in to provide protection to a breed of wildlife, but funding that has the flexibility to deal with the issues is key to avoiding burnout of materials.
Funding is always the biggest obstacle, says Peter. Securing funding seems like the first step in completing a project, but it really isn’t. In order to apply for grants, a detailed plan Grant funding must be applied for 2 years in advance.
“It has a very specific and rigid process you have to go through in order to secure those funds, which is good because it ensures environmental compliance, it’s safe and built up to standards, but it also requires a very long wait time” says Peter.
Not included is the six to twelve months of preparation needed to submit a worthy application. The Parks Commission uses this time to create a detailed plan of the design and construction process. Public engagement is vital to this process, as every city has their own process that identifies communities’ unique needs. To avoid the top-down approach, the Parks Commission tries to do early public engagement when it’s possible to have the community guide the pen drawing the B2B trail’s future.
The biggest source of federal grant funding is through the Transportation Alternatives Program known as TAP. These funds are Federal Highway Administration money running through the Michigan Department of Transportation reserved for non-motorized infrastructure. This funding was recently doubled for southeast Michigan with the passing of House bill 5791 and amounted to a $40.32 million budget for the 2023 fiscal year. The application opened on Oct. 1, 2022 and was approved by the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Transportation. MDOT has disbursed those funds to different niche grants, the most important one to the Parks Commission being the Recreational Trails Program, which received $2.56 million.
Being fully supported by grants, while idealistic, is not reliable, which is why the Parks Commission has spread out its financial load across three channels. The B2B trail is supported in a three-legged stool ratio from grants, donation dollars and a private, nonprofit partner called the Huron Pathways Waterloo Initiative for every project. In 2017, the Parks Commission signed an agreement to formally collaborate with the initiative and form a private-public partnership.
“Since then, we have been petal to the medal because they have been very successful in fundraising” says Peter.
The initiative has raised $15 million since the organization was founded in 2015 through 26,000 individual donors and a few larger gifts from Ralph C. Wilson Jr. Foundation who has grants available to projects based in providing a healthier lifestyle to southeast Michigan. The organization gained a new Executive Director in February 2022, Kiff Hamp, who says their plans are just beginning.
The initiative wants to take its role as communicator to the public in a different direction. While the initiative runs the B2B website, updates Google maps with new construction and releases quarterly newsletters, their brand name is not well known to trail users. Forming a first name relationship with the public will clean up the online donating area to be more concise and Kiff says it is a big part of the initiative’s new growth strategy. Future plans also include partnering with other local nonprofits to host events on the trail as well as their own and creating more consistent social media content and upgrading to a monthly newsletter for more consistent trail updates.
The Parks Commission and its private partner are very close, and even share a member of staff, former Road Commissioner Roy Townsend. They have a standing by-weekly meeting with some of the members of leadership from both groups and have constant inner communication. The Initiative is a bustling hub for information backed with the technical expertise of the Parks Commission when asked more precise questions.
Peter considers this partnership to be one of Parks Commission’s biggest achievements towards the B2B trail. Prior to the private partnership, the trail gained around one mile per year, but with greater public support and support from municipal partners, four miles was completed in 2022.
The trail’s success lies in both the longevity of the project, but also in the trail’s snug placement. The Parks Commission wants the B2B trail to create a spine of safe interconnected paths for pedestrians because those not traveling in a motor vehicle are often left out of city design plans. A pedestrian underpass project under the Amtrak going into 2023 in Ann Arbor highlights the Parks Commission’s commitment to providing safe and accessible means of transportation for non-motorized traffic.
KaseyDeschler.com 