New pavement in progress
NEGAUNEE — The Iron Ore Heritage Trail has made its presence known since opening a few years ago, and the forward momentum will continue.
A two–mile paving project began today and will continue through Friday. The $148,000 project will bring pavement on the trail between Healey Avenue and just north of the CN railroad crossing in Negaunee. After hearing concerns from people about the trail, the Iron Ore Heritage Recreation Authority knew that something had to be done.
“We’ve heard people say they didn’t like the aggregate here,” said Administrator Carol Fulsher, “they didn’t like it was getting gravelly, loose rock. It’s tough to get up the hills. It is a hilly region. We are not lower Michigan, way lower Michigan or Wisconsin where it’s flat trails. We have some terrain to deal with and we’re learning our way on how to deal with it. So, we just figured the best thing to do was put pavement down.”
The pavement project uses a large majority of this year’s mileage fund, but more improvements are expected to be made in the near future. Fulsher added that participants in this year’s Iron Range Roll should see faster times from the improvements.
For more information on the Iron Ore Heritage Trail, click here.