NEW BUFFALO, Mich. -- The Marquette Greenway is a 60-mile bike trail from Chicago to New Buffalo Michigan. Well…it’s going to be from Chicago to New Buffalo, Michigan.
“So, 2026 is a great year. We have 10 new miles of trail opening up.”
Mitch Barloga from the Northwest Indiana Regional Planning Commission has been working on the Marquette Greenway for the better part of his 22 years in the organization and is one of many organizers happy to see the strides being made on the trail.
“We've built three miles, we have one more mile to go in Michigan, it's amazing. The people that have come out to support the trail has been phenomenal, not just financially, but also just by coming out and supporting it and using it.”
Marcy Hamilton the Deputy Executive Director of the Southwest Michigan Planning Commission, says the very last mile to connect Michigan and Indiana is still on the way, as well as portions in Michigan City, as Shannon Eason, Superintendent of Michigan City Parks tells me:
“The first phase was super difficult to get through. Once that phase was done, we really picked up steam. And, you know, the enthusiasm within the community started to grow. And so everyone is just really, really wanting the trail done.”
"Just waiting on some small connections, and most of the stretch of the Greenway through Berrien and Laporte counties should be finished," says Barloga.
“Both of those projects, fully funded, but they are caught up in a federal Tempest at this point, it's not very clear when we're going to get approval...Hopefully, by ‘28 we'll see that constructed in both Michigan City and Berrien County.”
As I was riding along a portion of the greenway that’s been finished in New Buffalo, I couldn't help but find some peace and quiet, even in the bustling city. Barloga tells me that’s a fairly common occurrence.
“We still have many pockets of those parks and those land holdings that trail traverses through as well, as you know, industrial areas as well. Again, there's a great variety, but those environmental pockets are quite amazing, and it's a great discovery as people ride through.”
The connection between differences is something that Eason is also excited for as well.
“You know, you're on the Marquette Greenway, which is regional, but you're also going to get a little taste of each community and what they have to offer along the way. That's why we named our segments different.”
Not only connecting communities but connecting modes of transportation as well.
“You could come from Chicago to New Buffalo and you could catch the Amtrak to go back to Chicago...So you have all these sort of modes of transportation that brings you to different communities and really experience nature.”
Both Gary Woods and Marcy Hamilton are members of the Friends of Berrien County Trails. Hamilton tells me that the connection to Illinois and Indiana is just the beginning.
“We're kind of the gateway into Michigan, from Chicago, from South Bend, up into Michigan. So these trails are really important for our state and for the tourism and the economy here. So we really want to get these trails connected.”
And it isn’t just the northwestern portions of Michiana that will be in on the fun, Barloga teased connections to central portions of our region are in the works.
“The connection to South Bend that we're looking to accomplish with MACOG, and so that is on the table, and to route a trail from South Bend to the Marquette Greenway.”
Connecting the region, one pedal at a time.