Work on multi-use path moves toward Sept. finish

Construction crews are placing pilings, building bridges and moving dirt as they close in on a completion date next month for the new multi-use path along Blue Star Highway in Laketown Township.

Work recently resumed on the just less than one-mile-long path on the south side of the road from the Shangrai-La Mobile Home Community, 6180 Blue Star Highway, to the Michigan Department of Transportation’s park-and-ride site at Exit 41 of I-196, after a delay last year due to higher-than-expected bids.

The previous cost estimate in 2023 was about $1.2 million. The latest estimates are for about $1.1 million.

Much of the funding for the project is coming from grants. 

The project should be complete by the end of September.

The construction of this shared use path will help connect a recreationally and infrastructurally underserved area of the township with transportation options and an area-wide path system.

The path links the 66-site mobile home community with the ride-share lot along the expressway so residents can have easier access to transportation.

There are no other Laketown Township multi-use paths east of I-196 where this project is located.

The long-term plan for the Laketown Township Blue Star path is to eventually link with a 64^th Street path and the Saugatuck Township portion of the Blue Star Trail, a 20-mile paved non-motorized path between Saugatuck and South Haven.