On the warm and breezy afternoon of Wednesday, October 30, Porter County government officials and representatives from several of the Region’s municipalities and organizations gathered at the intersection of the Calumet Trail and North Mineral Springs Road in Dune Acres for a historic occasion. The attendees participated in the grand opening of the newly reconstructed section of the Calumet Trail between the Porter-Brickyard Trail and the South Shore Line’s Dunes Park Station. The onlookers cheered as the ceremonial ribbon was cut and this nearly 1.4 mile-long section of the trail was officially opened for public use.
Originally built as a slag trail in the 1970s, the Calumet Trail was covered with gravel in 2002. However, after about five years, the trail’s poor drainage led to flooding, which caused the trail to deteriorate. In 2012, an application to pave the Calumet Trail was submitted. Once completed, the Calumet Trail will become part of the Marquette Greenway, a project that has been in the works since 2000 and that was managed by former Indiana Congressman Pete Visclosky. The Marquette Greenway will be a 50 mile-long amalgamation of several trails that will connect Chicago, Illinois to New Buffalo, Michigan, and pass through over 50 communities.
Rafi Wilkinson, outdoor recreation planner for Indiana Dunes National Park, has been involved with this project for the past five years. He looks forward to seeing how the reconstructed trail segment will benefit the Region and its residents in the future
“Since the early 1980s, we at Indiana Dunes National Park have wanted an East-West connector trail that stretches from the Gary Metro Station to Mount Baldy in Michigan City,” Wilkinson said. “Our park isn’t contiguous like Yellowstone. It's long and narrow. As a result, it’s been difficult for people on bicycles and other non-motorized vehicles to travel between areas like Cowle’s Bog and the park’s visitor center. This reconstructed segment of the Calumet Trail is one small yet very important step in making the Marquette Greenway a reality. Many of the people have been working on this project for decades, so this is quite the milestone. Hopefully, this segment’s completion will draw attention to the segments of the trail that still require work and, in so doing, keep the reconstruction project’s momentum going.”
The Indiana Department of Transportation (INDOT) awarded a $2,188,534 bid to construct the project in early 2024, while the Federal Highway Administration through the Northwestern Indiana Regional Planning Commission (NIRPC) supplied roughly 80% of the funds. As the grantee of the funding, Porter County served as project manager and provided the balance of the funding for the project.
For Mitch Barloga, active transportation manager for the NIRPC, the ribbon cutting marked the culmination of a project he has been a part of since joining NIRPC 21 years ago.
“I never thought I’d be looking at a paved Calumet Trail,” Barloga said. “I have always said that every national park needs a trail you can ride through the park on and now we’re well on our way to making that happen for Indiana Dunes National Park. The trail has been substandard and unrideable for so many years, but this opens up a whole new world for bike riders by giving them more direct access to the beach. Trails have been proven to be one of the top, if not the top, amenities in any community. They benefit residents’ health, the environment, and the economy. The proliferation of trails throughout Northwest Indiana will massively improve its residents’ quality of life, especially when we’re giving them access to this jewel of a national park. I’m simply thrilled beyond belief to see the final result.”
Many organizations at the federal, state, and county levels helped make this reconstruction project possible. These include the National Parks Department, the Indiana Department of Natural Resources (DNR), the Northern Indiana Public Service Company (NIPSCO), INDOT, the Northern Indiana Commuter Transportation District (NICTD), and Lake, La Porte, and Porter counties. Nine local indigenous tribes assisted in the process, and organizations like Save the Dunes and the Shirley Heinze Land Trust lent their support as well.
James Burge, fourth district councilman for the Town of Porter, appreciated seeing so many entities and organizations throughout the Region collaborate on the trail’s reconstruction.
“This is a wonderful project and a wonderful dream,” Burge said. “This trail will play a key role in helping both tourists and the Region’s residents interact more with the National Park and explore this beautiful area. It will be much safer now that it’s paved and we are very appreciative of that. I am joined here today by other members of the Town of Porter government, including Rob Mellinger, president of our planning commission, Mike Barry, our director of development, and Brian Bugajski, our parks director. They have all had a tremendous impact on this project. My fellow Town of Porter council members and I are committed to helping make good things happen here in the Region.”
Michael Jabo, executive director of the Porter County Department of Development and Storm Water Management, believes that the newly reconstructed portion of the Calumet Trail will prove invaluable to those interested in exploring the surrounding area.
“This segment of the Calumet Trail connects to several other destinations in the area besides Indiana Dunes State Park,” Jabo said. “These include the National Lakeshore, Dunes Park train station, and the Indiana Dunes Visitors Center. It also intersects with the established Dunes-Kankakee Trail and Porter Brickyard Trail which provides riders with the opportunity to venture in and out of the towns of Porter and Chesterton. Lastly, it offers a chance to experience the diverse ecology and natural areas along its route. We look forward to the day when an even broader array of opportunities and destinations will become available when the trail is completed from state line to state line. We hope that everyone here today remains excited about the project and full of hope that the vision and dream will one day be realized.”
The two-and-a-half mile-long section of the Calumet Trail that stretches between Lake Shore County Road and the Porter/LaPorte county line is undergoing reconstruction as well. A ribbon cutting will be held to celebrate the completion of this next phase of the project in the coming weeks.For more information on Porter County Government’s upcoming projects and events, please visit porterco.org.