Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
A group of citizens and local officials carefully navigate the beams that make up the railroad trestle over the Montreal River Monday while discussing plans to create a number of non-motorized trails in the area.
HURLEY - A mix of citizens and local officials gathered Wednesday near the two railroad bridges that connect Ironwood and Hurley across the Montreal River to discuss the proposed Riverside Trail that would run from the waterfalls north of the cities to trailheads in Hurley and Ironwood.
If the proposed trail route is approved, the trailheads in Hurley and Ironwood would join the Riverside Trail with the regional trail that is planned to run from the ski trails in Montreal Wis., to Sunday Lake in Wakefield.
The group is charged with determining an approximate route for the Riverside Trail, which would run from between Peterson and Interstate Falls - the lack of public shoreline prevents the trail from going all the way to Interstate Falls - and Hurley, according to Will Andresen, the head of the University of Wisconsin's Iron County Extension Office.
"All this group is supposed to do is create this proposed route ... it doesn't have to be detailed, we don't need cost estimates at this point, We need a concept that we can take to the ... communities who can then adopt this concept into their parks and recreation plan which would then allow them to apply for grant money," Andresen told the gathering at the beginning of the meeting.
The earliest stages of the trail proposal had called for the trail to run from the waterfalls to Norrie Park in Ironwood, Andresen explained, but it was shortened with the hope that a spur to Norrie Park could be added at a later date.
After walking the railroad bridge and getting a visualization of what the trailhead in Hurley would like it - it would between the non-motorized trailhead, the all-terrain vehicle/snowmobile trail that runs parallel to it, and U.S. 51 - the group settled on what would likely be the final rough path that the Riverside Trail would take.
According to Andresen's map, the trail would likely begin between the two falls before running south on the Michigan side of the river to U.S. 2. The trail will then likely run east along U.S. 2 before cutting down Broadway Street to Hemlock Street. The trail would continue south down Hemlock until joining with the regional trail.
A second proposed loop in the Riverside Trail would run from the regional trailhead in Hurley north along U.S. 51 until it joins U.S. 2.
Andresen explained more specific locations will be determined once grant funding is secured to construct the trail. The general route is enough for communities to add it to their recreational master plans, Andresen said, a step that is necessary in both Wisconsin and Michigan to secure grant funding.
Although most of the group's mission appears to have been fulfilled, Andresen isn't planning on letting the momentum gathered go to waste. Andresen explained that the group can either continue to work on pushing the Riverside Trail to fruition, work on the completing Wisconsin segments of the regional trail - the Michigan side of the trail has already secured several grants and construction will take place over the next few summers - or the group could work on linking the regional/Riverside trails with the Hurley "Safe Routes to Schools" initiative.
The group is meeting again on June 3 at 4 p.m. at the Iron County Courthouse where, among other things, they will decide which of the three possibilities they will devote their efforts toward accomplishing next.
