By Tim Vandenack, Truth Staff
tvandenack@etruth.com
The dream of linking Goshen, Middlebury and Shipshewana with a 17-mile recreational path suddenly seems to be clipping along.
"I think it's been unbelievably fast," said Larry Neff, superintendent of parks for the Elkhart County Parks Department. "It's just unbelievable."
Work on a new half-mile segment of the Pumpkinvine Nature Trail, as it's known, finished in September, while efforts, now on hold but likely to resume next spring, continue along another 2.9-mile stretch. Sure, that's only 3.4 miles. But when you consider the delays that have held up the process 'til now and plans to build another seven-mile section by as early as next year, it starts to look like a race.
"It's the payoff for what we've been working for all these years," said John Yoder, president of Friends of the Pumpkinvine Nature Trail. That's the non-profit group that has been the driving force behind the trail, in partner with Elkhart County, Middlebury and Shipshewana.
Trail efforts date to the late 1980s, Yoder reckons, and he cited the dispersal of funds from the Indiana Department of Natural Resources for the flurry of activity this fall. Those funds came after the path was deemed a "Priority Visionary Trail" by the state and amid a push by Gov. Mitch Daniels to promote good health among Hoosiers and quality-of-life issues in Indiana communities.
Even so, hurdles remain. A grant request was recently rejected for one segment in the center of the pathway and plan details are still being sorted out on another section on the west side of Middlebury.
Nonetheless, the newest asphalt east of Goshen shows that the long-standing efforts and patience have not been for naught.
"I think it's very good news because we've had a lot of years when not a lot has happened," said Yoder. Legal questions over ownership of the Pumpkinvine land, notably, have held up the process, but those are now largely resolved.
The path: The trail, meant for recreational cyclists, joggers, walkers and Amish commuters who bike to work, follows a route of about 17 miles along the abandoned bed of a rail line. It cuts through farm land and wooded areas.
Ready or almost ready: Completed are two portions, a 2.25-mile segment east of Goshen, including the recently finished half-mile section, and a 0.7-mile section in Middlebury. Work started this fall on a 2.9-mile section just east of the completed portion nearest Goshen and parts of it are paved. The seven-mile section connecting Middlebury and Shipshewana in LaGrange County, meanwhile, could be next, with dirt turned by as early as next fall.
Still in the works: About $1 million has been secured for completion of the 1.2-mile section on the west side of Middlebury, but issues concerning the best way to navigate around U.S. 20 at its far end still have to be sorted out. A tunnel under the highway has been the most-discussed option, but that could require additional funds.
Less certain is the future of the 1.4-mile section west of that, going from U.S. 20 to C.R. 35. County parks officials sought an $846,000 grant to pay for the work there, but it was turned down. Neff says he'll try again.
A 1.7-mile section smack dab in the middle of the trail won't get any attention. The Friends of the Pumpkinvine group couldn't acquire the abandoned rail section there and rural county roads will serve as the path.
The cost: In all, Elkhart County, Middlebury and Shipshewana officials have secured $4.5 million in state and federal grants, some of it requiring matches, to build the path. The Friends of the Pumpkinvine donated the land for the path, which has typically served as the local match for outside funding based on its monetary value.
Other benefits: The path isn't meant to be just a means of getting from point A to point B or to keep locals here exercising, though those are both important. Also spurring officials is the power of such trails in boosting the quality of life and even in luring outside business and industry.
Neff, for his part, notes the camaraderie those who use the completed segments frequently show, greeting and actually talking to each other.
"I think that really gives you a sense of community," he said. "It's a good thing."