Check out fall colors on new Blue Star path

Trail links mobile home community with park-and-ride site.

The Blue Star Highway Shared Use Pathway goes from the 66-site Shangrai-La Mobile Home Community, 6180 Blue Star Highway, above, to the Michigan Department of Transportation’s park-and-ride site at Exit 41 of I-196. This image was taken on Sunday, Oct. 20, 2024.

Residents have a new view of the fall colors with the opening of Laketown Township’s latest multi-use path. The concrete work was recently finished on the less-than-a-mile Blue Star Highway Shared Use Pathway from the 66-site 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.

Some minor touchup work is still being done but the path is ready to use.

For a video of the trail, click here.

The asphalt paving started Oct. 7 and work wrapped up over the weekend on the concrete access points to the boardwalks and intersections to make them compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act.

The Blue Star Highway Shared Use Pathway along Blue Star Highway on Sunday, Oct. 20, 2024.

The path is 4,200 feet long and 10 feet wide and includes retaining walls and two boardwalks.

There are no other Laketown Township multi-use paths east of I-196 where this project is located. This new path was built so residents can have easier access to transportation.

The township has more than 10 miles of shared-use paths and they are the most popular recreational feature in the township, according to a 2023 Parks and Recreation Commission survey.

The long-term plan for the Laketown Township Blue Star path is to eventually link over the I-196 bridge to a 64th Street path and the Saugatuck Township portion of the Blue Star Trail, a 20-mile paved non-motorized path between Saugatuck and South Haven.

Riders come to the end of the Blue Star Shared Use Pathway on Sunday, Oct. 20, 2024, at the Michigan Department of Transportation’s park-and-ride site at Exit 41 of I-196. They then headed south over the expressway bridge.
The Blue Star Highway Shared Use Pathway along Blue Star Highway on Sunday, Oct. 20, 2024.
One of the bridges on the Blue Star Highway Shared Use Pathway along Blue Star Highway on Sunday, Oct. 20, 2024.
The Blue Star Highway Shared Use Pathway along Blue Star Highway on Sunday, Oct. 20, 2024.
A car turns from Blue Star Highway onto 63rd Street across the Blue Star Highway Shared Use Pathway along Blue Star Highway on Sunday, Oct. 20, 2024.
The Blue Star Highway Shared Use Pathway along Blue Star Highway on Sunday, Oct. 20, 2024.
The Blue Star Highway Shared Use Pathway along Blue Star Highway on Sunday, Oct. 20, 2024.
People leave the Blue Star Highway Shared Use Pathway along Blue Star Highway on Sunday, Oct. 20, 2024, to cross the I-196 bridge going into Saugatuck.