Efforts to connect new Buffalo and Chicago with a 60-mile bike trail will continue to see progress this year. An update on the Marquette Greenway was given during a virtual Northwest Indiana Green Drinks event Thursday.
"We are putting about 10 miles on the ground this year, new trail," said Mitch Barloga, the Northwestern Indiana Regional Planning Commission’s active transportation manager. "So, by the end of ‘26, we should have at least 40-some miles of trail completed for the Marquette Greenway, which is obviously quite an amazing feat."
On the east end, the portion from New Buffalo to Michiana Shores is largely complete – except for a half mile near the state line – and the portion from there to Michigan City is fully funded. “We hope to actually have that in, probably, within the next two or three years and to get that completed,” Barloga added.
Still, some sections remain to be funded, including a 3.7-mile stretch in Gary that’s estimated to cost $17 million.
Barloga said the Marquette Greenway will eventually connect the Indiana Dunes with open spaces hidden in industrial areas. "It picks up a lot of these, just, remnants of natural beauty all along the landscape," Barloga said. "Of course, the national park speaks for itself, but people are not aware of so many other great parcels that are outside of the national park."
The entire trail is made up of dozens of individual segments, and its total cost is estimated to be at least $115 million.
Barloga said there’s already an effort to extend the Marquette Greenway all the way to South Haven, Michigan. “So that’s happening. We have parts of the trail being built right now. There’s a part of the Red Arrow Highway that’s being converted, but we’re going a long way,” Barloga added.
