For 11 years people in Converse have been anticipating the completion of the Converse Junction Trail near the Grant County line. After struggling with funding for more than a decade, the Converse Trail Committee finally broke ground on the project Friday morning to coincide with a new Converse Junction Trail Bridge over the US Rail line.
Co-chair of the project, Greg Warnock, gained interest as a community member when he learned the Indiana Department of Transportation would be giving Converse a grant to complete the trail that would eventually connect to the Sweetser Switch Trail.
“I have been using trails my whole life,” Warnock said. “The trail system in Indiana is very interesting; many of them connect to each other in one way or another.”
According to Warnock, Friday morning was the first ground breaking moment on the project.
In June, the crew filled in a pond near the bridge. Earlier in August, the team removed the old bridge from the site, which was about 150 years old and too dilapidated to save, according to Warnock.
“Before today it seemed like all we did was move dirt around for a few months,” he said. “Now that we have the bridge in, we can start building the ramps, paving the trail and putting up mile markers.”
Friday morning, the crew used two cranes and a flatbed to move the 60-foot bridge from Industrial Maintenance Specialists in Gas City to the trail end in Converse. By noon, the bridge was in place and workers were finishing the sides.
Converse Town Council member Gary Freeman was surprised at how much was completed in just a few hours when he volunteered at the bridge site on Friday.
“We got a lot of the bridge done today, but we still need to build ramps on each side,” Freeman said.
Warnock says he is one of about 40 members of the community who have volunteered their time to attend meetings and gain speed on the project.
“We have a great start on the project, but we still need help from the community in every capacity,” Warnock said. “We will hold a meeting before our regular monthly meeting to discuss the remaining financial burdens of the project.”
According to Warnock, the bulk of the physical labor for the project is complete, but finishing touches on the trail will require time and money.
“We are hoping to lay the asphalt in October and have the trail open to the public by Nov. 1,” he said. “We also have to lay grass seed, add mile markers and complete other various jobs to finish the trail.”
After the trail is complete, Freeman says the Sweetser Switch Trail will eventually extend further west to connect the two trails, allowing people to take the Cardinal Greenways all the way from Richmond to Converse.
“The Converse Junction Trail will be about 2.5 miles in total length when it’s complete,” Freeman said.