05-07-10 Connecting communities: Riverside and Darden trails

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St. Joseph County Commission For Release: May 7, 2010 The County completed a series of three projects from 1996-2009 to construct the Darden Trail, approximate overall lengths is 1.1 miles at a cost of $1.85M. Trail spans the St. Joseph River to S.R. 933. The Darden Trail was part of an earlier community vision (local bike enthusiast groups, Parks, etc.) named "The River Trail and Darden Road Parkway". This vision's goal was to provide multi-use trails throughout the Portage and Clay Township communities connecting City and County Parks, Schools, Neighborhoods, and Businesses and enjoying the scenic beauty of the St. Joseph River while bicycling, jogging, walking, and skating. The County's first contribution to this vision was the rehabilitation of the Old Darden Road Bridge in 1996 for pedestrian use. Cole Associates of South Bend designed the project and Calumet Construction of Hammond, Indiana completed the work. The approximate construction cost was $850,000 and was federally funded using Transportation Enhancement funds. The structure was built in 1885 at Water Street (now known as LaSalle Street). In 1906, the Pratt Truss spans were floated "down" the river to its present location. The bridge consists of two wrought iron truss spans and two steel girder approach spans. Length = 330 feet. The second project funded 100% locally involved the construction of the New Darden Road Bridge, road realignment, and the extension of the Darden Trail. The project connected to existing trails leading to Clay Park and began the trail heading east along Darden Road. Again, Cole Associates designed the project and Calumet Construction performed the work. The facility opened in 1999 and the trail improvements approximately cost $400,000. (Overall project cost $3.08M) Trail length = 0.34 miles. The recent Darden Road reconstruction finished in 2009 and extended the trail from Laurel Road to S.R. 933. DLZ, Indiana (formerly Cole Associates) designed the project and Rieth-Riley Construction Co., Inc. of South Bend completed the work. The approximate construction cost for the trail improvements was $600,000 and was federally funded using Congestion Mitigation Air Quality (CMAQ) funds. (The overall project cost was approx. $2.8M and also used Group I STP funds). Trail length = 0.7 miles. The above projects were also made possible through the efforts of the County Commissioners and County Councilmen serving through this time period, as well as former County Engineers- Rollin Farrand and Susan Al-Abbas, and current County Engineer- Jessica Clark. - 30 -