Isabella County Parks received two grants to replace outdated bollards with new gates on the Pere Marquette Rail Trail (PMRT). The Mt. Pleasant Area Community Foundation awarded the first grant, in the amount of $6,350, on June 20, 2024. This grant was supported by the Bandit Industries Community Fund, Brewster Family Access to Recreation Fund, Schafer Community Impact Fund, Summit Petroleum Fund, and Theunissen Family Fund, all held at the Foundation. The Mt. Pleasant Area Convention & Visitors Bureau (MPACVB) awarded the second grant, in the amount of $4,650, on October 29, 2024, as part of their Destination Development fund awards — funds that are invested back into the Mt. Pleasant community for sports and general tourism improvements.
The new gates are part of the second phase of the Pere Marquette Rail Trail Beautification Project. The first phase, also partially funded by the MPACVB ($5,000), as well as the Friends of the PMRT ($1,000), included: installing mile markers along the full 8.25 miles of Isabella County trail to help visitors with trail orientation and increase safety; trimming vegetation overgrowth, specifically in areas where trees or bushes had branches hanging high over the trail that could fall or hit visitors; and crack filling, sealcoating and striping one mile of consecutive trail and several high priority sections of trail totaling another mile.
To start the second phase of the project, Isabella County Parks will replace the aging trail bollards with new, specialized rail-trail gates. Currently, bollards are in place at locations where the trail intersects a roadway to prevent illegal motorized traffic from entering the trail. The center bollard at each intersection can be removed, but it is very heavy and awkward, and some that are not removed regularly are even harder to remove when necessary. This makes it very difficult and time-consuming to provide access for maintenance and emergency vehicles.
The gates are a major improvement because they can easily be unlocked and swing fully open to allow authorized vehicles to pass unimpeded, in the case of an emergency, or maintenance needs. The gates are also designed to allow non-motorized users (people on foot or bicycle) to pass through a small gap in the center, while still preventing illegal off-road vehicle traffic. Overall, the new gates will be more attractive, more efficient, and improve access in a variety of maintenance-based and emergency scenarios than the existing bollards.
The goal of the PMRT Beautification Project is to repair, beautify and enhance the 8.25-mile section of the rail trail that runs through Isabella County and make it a destination for cyclists. Midland County Parks is also working to upgrade, repair and beautify their 22-mile section of the trail, so another goal is to ensure a consistently positive visitor experience for the whole 30 miles from Midland to Clare. In addition, the connecting trail from Clare to Farwell was completed this summer, so cyclists can now ride from Midland to Baldwin (about 90 miles). The Isabella County section of trail opened in 2001, and the tunnel under US-127 was completed in 2008. The trail has been maintained since then, but no major improvement steps had been taken until this project was started in 2023.
We are looking forward to making this improvement to the trail, and are grateful to our community partners for funding these important projects!
