DOWAGIAC — An 18-mile bike trail through Silver Creek Township now connects Russom Park on Yaw Street near Dowagiac with Sister Lakes.
“The scenic loop runs from here to California Road,” Supervisor Bill Saunders said Nov. 4. “Then, it goes over to Middle Crossing, up Indian Trail, down Downey Street, Leach Road, Topash Street, Garrett Road, up Dixon Street to the township hall, then we go down Indian Lake Road to School Street. On School Street to Garrett, Burke, then back California to Middle Crossing to here. You can come back to where you started if you want.”
Saunders said Cass County Road Commission conducted traffic counts to determine the least-traveled arteries once officials decided the cost would be prohibitive to build the eight-foot bike path the state requires.
“That was just out of the question,” Saunders said.
The designated trail resulted from a survey Silver Creek conducted six years ago.
“We sent out 2,900 surveys and got back more than 50 percent,” Saunders said. “That was when we were doing our master plan and wanted to see what the people wanted.”
While undeveloped open space and the bike trail ranked high, “They didn’t want a skate park,” Trustee Joel Moore said.
The township purchased close to 200 signs, which the Road Commission installed.
“This is not a finish, it’s a start,” Moore said.
Russom Park itself, a partnership project with Dowagiac, “We’ve got the soccer fields seeded,” Saunders said. “Our next project is parking areas. We’ve got a grant application in for parking, a kid’s playground and a walking track,” which will complement the Council on Aging’s new Dowagiac Senior Center under construction downtown.
“We’re both applying for grants” because of the acquisition of the property in two 17.5-acre pieces controlled by a joint recreation board, the supervisor said.