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06/23/2007Recreation buffs making good use of new two-mile trailKALKASKA — The asphalt was still cooling when Bill Cousins' phone started ringing. Callers wanted the Kalkaska village manager to tell them when the community's new paved bicycle trail would be ready, as well as a description of the route. "We got a lot of phone calls, especially when the tape was still up,” Cousins said. "People were so eager to use it, but no one would break that tape.” The official ribbon-cutting ceremony for the Kalkaska Area Recreation and Transportation Trail is set for Aug. 2, but the two-mile continuous loop already is getting plenty of use. The trail circles Kalkaska along Birch Street, Dresden Street, Kalkaska Road and M-72 and is the culmination of a five-year community effort. When the construction tape came down last week, folks came out in droves, said Tom Sheneman, co-chairman of the KART committee. "We are getting a ton of usage out of it already. It's amazing. We built it and they did come,” Sheneman said. "Approximately five years ago we held our first meeting at the chamber of commerce ... from there it has really been a grass-roots, community-based, volunteer-type organization.” The roughly $288,000 project was funded, in part, by a federal transportation grant, and local residents and business owners purchased landscaped islands along the trail to raise an estimated $70,000. The largest island, bought by Kalkaska's Rotary and Kiwanis clubs, sold for $30,000. The trail surrounds the village's schools, governmental center, baseball and soccer fields, horse arena and ice rink. Plans are in the works to connect the loop to Kalkaska's only other trail along U.S. 131 on the south side of town, Sheneman said. "Our long-term goal is that we want to eventually connect into the (Traverse Area Recreation and Transportation) trail, ideally over in the Lake Skegemog natural area near Rapid City,” he said. "We would also like to see additional spurs within Kalkaska itself.”
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