Tittabawassee Township Path
The newly finished Tittabawassee Township pathway near Garfield Road at sunset. Photo by Andy Brady of Dig Deep Race Events.
After a few years of planning, the ribbon was officially cut last year on the new Tittabawassee Township Pathway, a 2.69-mile-long multi-use path that is part of both the Great Lakes Bay Regional Trail and the Iron Belle Trail systems.
Allison Riffel, Community Development Director for Tittabawassee Township, said the idea for a pathway in the Township began more than four years ago.
“In 2017, when Tittabawassee Township completed its Master Plan and Recreation Plan, a pathway was one of the top amenities identified as a good investment by community residents,” Riffel said. “We began the grant application process after that with the help of Spicer Group and were successfully awarded a grant to fund this new path extension.”
The grant for $300,000 came from the Michigan Natural Resources Trust Fund. The Township also received a grant from the Iron Belle Trail Fund for $50,000, and these funds assisted the community in making this planned pathway a reality.
“Having the other two organizations willing to grant us funding was a key driver in our ability to successfully complete this project,” Riffel said. “We also could not have completed this pathway or secured the funding that we did without the support of the Great Lakes Bay Regional Trail Alliance.”
With a previous pathway along M-47 already in place within the Township – the Freeland Multi-Use Path – this extension begins where that path has ended, at the pavilion on the property behind the Freeland Sports Zone, located at 5690 Midland Road.
Gravel along the pathway before pavement during construction.
The path then travels eastward to Garfield Road, extends southward down the east side of Garfield Road until it reaches Consumers Energy’s property and turns east towards Hackett Road on previously non-accessible land. Along the Consumers Energy property, the trail crosses a county drain, which attracts birds and waterfowl.
Signage at the beginning of the pathway.
“The trail is a 10-foot-wide asphalt pathway everywhere except the portion of Garfield Road, where it narrows to 6-feet-wide to keep it within the road right of way. It was designed this way to keep pedestrians safe,” Mark Norton, P.E., the Project Manager with Spicer Group said. “We also installed signage and safety striping between the pathway and roadway for safety and better visibility.”
Spicer Group also worked in cooperation with the Saginaw County Public Works Department to construct a portion of the pathway in the Hackett Drain right of way.
This section of pathway ends at Hospital Road, which is where a planned link to the Kochville Township pathway is currently scheduled for construction this year. This will connect the Tittabawassee Township path to the Great Lakes Bay Regional Trail system, which is a planned system of nearly 100 miles of non-motorized pathway that joins Saginaw, Bay, and Midland Counties, offering users access to some of the region’s outdoor recreational opportunities.
This portion of the trail is also a part of the Iron Belle Trail which, when finished, will extend more than 2,000 miles through 48 different Michigan counties to connect the far western tip of the Upper Peninsula to Belle Isle in Detroit.
Construction on the Tittabawassee Township path began in May of 2020 and was finished by September of that same year, even amid state restrictions regarding the COVID-19 pandemic. An outdoor ribbon-cutting event was held by the Great Lakes Bay Regional Trail Alliance in September.
Other amenities along the trail were also added, including a bike rack next to the pavilion behind the Freeland Sports Zone, Norton said.
“This path extension has been well received by both residents and non-residents and has already been used for community events. We are happy and excited to see the many organizations and people that are utilizing the path and we look forward to being connected to Kochville Township in 2021. This needed connection will allow more people from outside of the area to access recreation, shopping, and leisure opportunities located in Tittabawassee Township.” Riffel said.
“This needed connection will allow more people from outside of the area to access recreation, shopping, and leisure opportunities located in Tittabawassee Township.”
-Allison Riffel