NILES CHARTER TOWNSHIP — The trickle of water can be heard at many places within Brandywine Creek Nature Park. Now, so can the ring of a bicycle bell, the plodding of running shoes or the roll of a stroller.

Late last month, construction completed on a portion of the Indiana-Michigan River Valley Trail, closing a gap where the trail left off at the nature park on S. Third Street in Niles Charter Township and where a Niles city trail began less than a mile away on Fort Street.

On Saturday, Nov. 9, Southwestern Michigan Planning Commission and other partners that made the trail possible will host a series of three grand openings. They will commemorate a series of close trail gaps that successfully connected Niles to South Bend and Mishawaka along a 34-mile route.

“Now that it’s a long trail, they can actually go from one place to another,” said Jill DeLucia, Niles Township’s parks commissioner. “The usage of the trail has jumped dramatically, and I can see traffic all the way into Niles being much, much greater now that the gaps are closed.”

The celebrations begin at 9 a.m. at the trailhead on the border of Michigan and Indiana, 19890 State Line Road, South Bend.

A golden spike will be placed in the ground, a symbolic nod to two states further connected.

At 10:15 a.m., a grand opening of the trailhead between the newly created trail in Niles Charter Township and the city trail will be celebrated. Its location is 1325 Third St., Niles.

Before, Niles’ city trail ended abruptly in a patch of grass. A new egress was installed, leading users over a crosswalk to a dedicated trail along Third Street. Heading south, users cross the street over another crosswalk to enter Brandywine Creek Nature Preserve. The loop around its edge takes them over a bridge, past benches, near water and out to the corner of Third Street and Pulaski Highway, where they can take the trail into Indiana.

The final celebration is at 11 a.m. at Spectrum Health Lakeland’s new trailhead at 31 N. St. Joseph St., Niles. DeLucia said the health center has plans to create and connect their own trail that stems from their property to the bi-state trail.

Celebrants are welcome to either drive or bike to each location.

Speakers will be at each place, from the COO of Spectrum Health Lakeland to political figures of both the Hoosier and Mitten states.

DeLucia is excited for the ceremonies, but she is more excited to see communities connect and people travel to each of them.

“It’s exciting to see how many different people are now using the trail,” she said.

The space, she said, provides a safer alternative for running, biking and walking than roads can. Pedestrian collisions are minimized while scenic views are maximized, she said.

The creation of the trail was years in the making, but an eagerness between communities and organizations made the creation of patches of trails over time easier than other trail efforts, DeLucia said.

Work is not done, however.

“One of the things we found out in surveys is that people don’t have a lot of parking options to park, take their bike out, hop on a trail for a couple hours and then head back knowing their car is secure,” DeLucia said.

So, the Niles Township Parks Board is working to turn abandoned property at the trail’s Ontario Road crossing into a trailhead, with parking and places to recuperate. Initial construction work could occur before snow sets.

Work is underway north of Niles, too, but in the form of public hearings, data collection and property easement obtainment.

Be Healthy Berrien and Southwestern Michigan Planning Commission are heading a multi-year effort to extend the Indiana-Michigan River Valley Trail into Berrien Springs through dedicated pathways.