Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
CONSTRUCTION CONTINUES on the railroad bridge connecting Ironwood and Hurley. When completed, a non-motorized trail will be established throughout Gogebic County.
BESSEMER - The Western Gateway Trail Authority met Wednesday at the Gogebic County Courthouse and Coleman Engineering Project Manager Paul Anderson went over what has occurred since a June 4 meeting.
Anderson said he's still working with the Michigan Department of Transportation on not allowing motorized vehicles on the trail.
"The DOT contradicted themselves," he said. "They told me to put in writing that they wanted this trail to be opened to motorized use. Two months ago, they told me that. They told me it's funded with their dollars, it needs to be opened to four-wheelers and snowmobilers.
"I said, that's an issue. We have a motorized trail grade right next to ours and this is intended for non-motorized use," Anderson said. "This an issue, we don't want motorized use on this trail, they have the grade right next to ours."
The proposed Iron Belle trail, from Detroit to Ironwood, is being promoted as hiking-biking trail. The Western Gateway Trail will be part of the route.
According to Anderson, Coleman Engineering has gotten in touch with Michigan Department of Natural Resources regarding the trail lease from Ironwood to Bessemer.
"Once we get the lease set up, we can talk about transferring Ironwood's lease to the trail authority," Anderson said.
Coleman Engineering has also begun analyzing the Hurley-Ironwood bridge's pull-out sections, Anderson said.
"Right now, our main focus is to draft the bridge details and put them into a computer-aided design system," he said.
"We're working on making signs, one for each bridge," he said. "On each sign, we want to put a short paragraph with transportation-related information on them."
To make that happen, Anderson said everyone has to do his or her part. "Each of the board members needs to spread the word in their respective communities to try to get the word out," he said.
On May 26, Anderson said a State Historic Preservation Office application was submitted.
"They're moving offices sometime in June, so it's going to take some time for them to get back to us," he said. "We're not expecting any problems, but we'll see what they come back with."
