Two more miles of bike trail will officially open in Starke County today. A ribbon cutting is scheduled for the Erie Trail extension this afternoon at 1:00 CDT.
Kathy Lucas with the Prairie Trails Club says it will be held at the new eastern end at County Road 700 East. “And we are amazed at who’s coming,” she told the North Judson Town Council Monday. “We have dignitaries from the national Rails-to-Trails organization, as well as the ADT, the American Discovery Trail, because they understand that we’re a key link in their cross-country trails.”
Lucas said the extension will bring the length of the Erie Trail to 22 miles round-trip, which will attract more events. The extension will also result in a slight reroute of U.S. Bike Route 35. The route will now continue east on the Erie Trail to 700 East, rather than veering off on County Road 800 South, following the approval of the Starke County Commissioners Monday.
But today’s gathering may also be a chance to look ahead toward extending the other end of the trail from North Judson. “We had a conference call with some of the people at DNR and these groups,” Lucas said, “and it was a very collegial discussion. And everybody agreed that we need to keep moving this. They want to get to Chicago, I’ll be honest with you, and we are right on the angle that’s going to take them there.”
The extension to 700 East was made possible by over $390,000 in grant funding from Indiana’s Next Level Trails program.
