BUCHANAN — Instead of spending their weekend afternoons inside relaxing, Boy Scouts from Troop 541 spent a collective six hours hammering, sawing and measuring away to create a bridge that will fill a gap on the McCoy’s Creek Trail.

The 12-foot by 3-foot bridge and ramp extension was placed over Proud Creek on May 6. Scouts began the project after the city of Buchanan asked for their help in completing it so that hikers could pass over Proud Creek and access foot trails on the other side. Additionally, city officials are planning to extend the McCoy’s Creek Trail to follow some of the foot paths and the bridge will aid in this project.

Scout leader Bill Blumka, a Buchanan native, said scouts saw an opportunity to help their local community. According to Blumka, Buchanan scouts have a history of making installations on the trail and have also built a lookout near the bog area on the trail and plan to install some birdhouses and identification plaques in the future.

Blumka said the Proud Creek Bridge seemed like another opportunity to teach scouts some lessons about construction and serving their community.

The trail committee donated the materials for the project through their own funding, while scouts volunteered the labor.

Blumka said it took 15 scouts working together to complete the project. 

“We like working with stuff for the city,” Blumka said. “It’s a conservation project. Working together, there were all kinds of skills [gained] in addition to construction.”

Blumka said he hopes that the bridge encourages people in the community to get out and use the McCoy’s Creek Trail.

Kyle Welch, 14, and Bryce Placher, 15, were among the scouts who helped to make the bridge a reality. The teens said they cut wood and learned how to “square up” the pieces.

“A bunch of the scouts got to use screw guns and learned how to properly put in a screw and make it nice and neat,” Placher said.   

The scouts said they have participated in a few Eagle Scout projects, which involved building, so they were happy to see some of the younger Boy Scouts get the chance to help out this time. 

Welch said he hopes it gives hikers a chance to enjoy more of the trail.

“Now they won’t have try to find another way across [Proud Creek],” Welch said.

City Manager Bill Marx said he was grateful to the scouts for helping out. 

“Any enhancements to the trail, especially by a group of young men — it’s always a blessing,” Marx said. “Their efforts have made a whole section of the trail accessible that really was not navigable.”

He added that the bridge will be used even more once plans to extend the McCoy’s Creek Trail are completed.

“The expansion is going to benefit from it,” Marx said. “People will be able to get to the other area of the woods where there are footpaths and the extension will probably follow that same trail.”