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| 10/3/2008 10:07:00 AM | Email this article • Print this article |
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| Eric A. Johnson photo
Members of the Boulder Junction Bike Trail Committee gathered at the Community Center late Tuesday afternoon to celebrate the “good news” from Gov. Jim Doyle that the town had been awarded a Wisconsin DOT Transportation Enhancement Grant for a planned 3.5-mile, $474,558 expansion of the Boulder Junction Bicycle and Pedestrian Trail. Under the terms of the grant award, the Wisconsin DOT will reimburse the town for $330,120 or 80 percent of the total project cost, whichever is less. Seen in front, holding the Sept. 22 award notification letter from Gov. Jim Doyle, are Bike Trail Committee co-chair Pete Rondello and 27-year Boulder Junction town chairman Jeffrey Long. Pictured in the back row, from left, are Bike Trail Committee members Mykl Hensley, committee co-chair Steve Coon, Julie Schuenemann, Penny Samuelson, James Hanson, Diane Muri, Brandt Christopherson and Roger Samuelson.
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BJ committee receives DOT grant award
Word about Stewardship Grant funding expected by early next week
Boulder Junction's popular, well-utilized and oft-expanded 13.5-mile bicycle and pedestrian trail system is set to grow again, following Gov. Jim Doyle's announcement that the 1,016-resident Vilas County town is the recipient of a Wisconsin DOT Transportation Enhancement Grant funding award for a planned 3.5-mile, $474,558 trail expansion.
Under the terms of the DOT Transportation Enhancement Grant award, the Wisconsin Department of Transportation will reimburse the town of Boulder Junction for $330,120 or 80 percent of the total project cost, whichever is less.
"I am pleased to inform you that the state Department of Transportation has approved your requested Transportation Enhancement ... project for state fiscal years 2009-11 funding," Doyle wrote in a Sept. 22 award notification letter to 27-year town chairman Jeffrey Long. "The Boulder Junction Bicycle and Pedestrian Trail is one of 47 selected bicycle-pedestrian, historic transportation and scenic landscaping ... projects that will enhance Wisconsin's transportation system and make it even more attractive to residents and visitors.
"A total of $17 million federal funding was approved for various transportation-related projects that were evaluated based on federal and state eligibility criteria ... and recommendations made to the Wisconsin Department of Transportation secretary by a 15-person review committee ... Best wishes on your successful project."
The news comes on the heels of a recent report in USA Today ranking Wisconsin as the nation's second best biking state, second only to Washington.
Members of the Boulder Junction Bike Trail Committee gathered at the Community Center late Tuesday afternoon to celebrate the "good news" of the sizeable grant.
"The state Department of Transportation awarded us the lion's share of the money that we'll need to build our bike trail extension," said committee co-chairman Pete Rondello. "This is huge news for Boulder Junction residents and visitors to our area, a great benefit to the town ... This is good news for us and a cause for celebration ... This [funding award] is really a vote of confidence in our township - that we know what we're doing with bike trails and that we've spent past grant money responsibly. It shows that they feel strongly enough, with the number of applicants that were out there, to recommend our application."
Rondello praised the work of Bike Trail Committee members, as well as the impetus for a northern bike trail expansion provided by Boulder Junction's Hegeman family, ardent and longtime bike trail advocates who had collected some 800 petition signatures in support of a northern Hwy. M trail extension.
Long noted that the 2009-11 Wisconsin DOT Transportation Enhancement Grant award is the fourth received by the town to date.
Previous DOT Transportation Enhancement Grant awards built the initial trail south along Hwy. M from downtown to the Boulder Junction Community Ball Park, as well as two subsequent expansions - south along Hwy. M to Trout Lake and south along Hwy. M and west along Hwy. N from Trout Lake to Crystal Lake, where the Boulder Junction Bicycle and Pedestrian Trail connects to trail systems in Sayner and St. Germain as the collaborative Heart of Vilas County Bike and Hike Trail.
Rondello said the Boulder Area Trail System has steadily grown in usage over the years.
"Our trail continues to be busy," he said. "Every year we're seeing record numbers of bicyclists and pedestrians on the trail."
Calling the trail an "awesome" town asset, Rondello said the recreational Boulder Junction Bicycle and Pedestrian Trail enhances quality of life for year-round and seasonal town residents and expands the offerings of Boulder Junction's bread-and-butter tourism trade.
"It strengthens our town by giving us more amenities to offer," he noted of Boulder Junction, feted as one of the Badger State's five best biking communities.
In response to committee questioning, Long said conversations with Manitowish Waters town chairman John Hanson and Winchester town chairman Rob Schmidt, Jr. had indicated that both towns had been informed by the state that they had not received DOT Transportation Enhancement Grant funding for proposed bike trail projects in the current grant cycle.
The Manitowish Waters town board, at their September meeting, voted 2-1 to rescind their grant application and return any monies that may have been awarded, citing community controversy and concerns about the safety of the town's proposed Hwy. 51 corridor bike trail expansion plan.
Interviewed by The Times after the meeting, Long said town officials and Bike Trail Committee members were "very happy and appreciative of the opportunity to expand our trail system," noting it will "pay dividends for residents and tourists alike."
Rondello, also speaking to The Times after the committee meeting, agreed.
"This [trail extension] will offer a lot of opportunities for residents and visitors," he said. "It'll provide transportation to natural areas, to town. It'll provide safety for bicyclists who have to ride on county highways now..."
With the DOT Transportation Enhancement Grant award notification from Gov. Doyle in hand, Rondello said Bike Trail Committee members are chomping at the bit to get started and expedite the trail expansion development process.
"We've been working at this for a couple of years...," he noted. "We'd love to get out there and start it and ride it and enjoy it and have it as an offering for our neighbors and visiting friends."
Next steps outlined
After consulting with regional DOT representative Fred Wisner Jr., Long told committee members Tuesday that the first step in the process toward developing the trail extensions will be coordinating an on-site meeting in Boulder Junction with officials from Menomonie-based Cedar Corp., a 55-employee firm that provides professional engineering, building design, planning, land surveying, landscape architecture, and environmental services to public and private clients in northwestern Wisconsin.
Long noted that the DOT will work with Cedar Corp. to assess the scope of Boulder Junction's bike trail expansion project and help the town prepare a project agreement with the DOT.
"The federal dollars are very closely reviewed...," Long noted. "The DOT's hired Cedar Corp. to work with the awardees to make sure everything is as it should be ... They will tell us when we can hire a consultant and ... their procedure for hiring a consultant ... We're not authorized, at this point, to spend penny one. Once we have a signed project agreement, that's the point when we can start proceeding ... I'll get them (Cedar Creek) on board tomorrow. They'll come up here, make a visit, review the site..."
Long said he'd inform Bike Trail Committee members as soon as a meeting date is set with Cedar Corp. officials.
Long told the committee that he's hopeful that the project could be expedited, with possible completion in 2009.
"They say to plan on 18-24 months to complete a trail," he noted. "There are some cases, with luck, where it may be done quicker. And I think we're all feeling lucky..."
As a reimbursement-styled grant, Long said the "most logical" route for the town will be to utilize short-term borrowing at a favorable rate to front trail development costs prior to DOT reimbursement with the federal Transportation Enhancement funding.
Chamber praises news as good for economic development, tourism
In a Wednesday morning interview with The Lakeland Times, Boulder Junction Chamber of Commerce board president James B. Tait III welcomed the news of the DOT Transportation Enhancement Grant award and the impending expansion of the Boulder Junction Bicycle and Pedestrian Trail, calling it an "extremely positive" development that expands recreational offerings and enhances bicyclist safety.
"As a chamber, we look at it (trail expansion) as a further extension of our values and desires to meet the needs of tourism and the community," he noted.
Boulder Junction, Tait said, has been among the Wisconsin communities at the forefront of the growing movement toward eco-friendly green "silent sports," first with its paved bicycle-pedestrian trails and more recently with its foray into the world of geocaching.
"Many people think of Boulder Junction as a quiet, peaceful place to come for recreation," he noted. "As everyone becomes more aware of the need to go green, this [bike trail expansion] is an extension of those values. It shows that Boulder Junction is proactive in the silent sports ... There's a huge population that enjoys silent sports ... Boulder Junction has been proactive and has developed [bicycle and pedestrian] trails as the interest has grown..."
In addition to being an eco-friendly "green" recreational alternative, Tait said bicycling is also gaining popularity as "healthy" outdoors recreation and exercise.
"Biking is an avenue to a healthy body and a healthy attitude," he noted.
Tait said an estimated 25 percent of Boulder Junction visitors now engage in recreational bicycling activities while in the "Musky Capital."
Bicycling is also popular with Boulder Junction's population of year-round and seasonal residents.
Tait said the planned trail expansions west on Hwy. K and north on Hwy. M will improve resident bike access to downtown, particularly from major residential areas north of downtown accessed off Airport Road, High-Fishtrap Lake Road, Allen Road and Dairymen's Road.
Tait said the Boulder Junction Bicycle and Pedestrian Trail has long been "a magnet for those serious about biking in the Northwoods."
Expansion of the Boulder Junction Bicycle and Pedestrian Trail, he said, will be a major boost for economic development in the town's compact downtown district, as bicyclists make their way along Main Street toward the two planned trail extensions - west along Hwy. K to Camp Manito-wish YMCA and north along Hwy. M to Dairymen's Road.
"As we expand our trails ... Boulder Junction will become even more of a destination...." Tait said, noting bicyclists will be looking for dining, lodging and shopping opportunities while they're in town. "It (bike trail expansion) opens the opportunity for more commerce in the center of Boulder Junction."
Hopes high for DNR Stewardship Grant award
In other developments at Tuesday's Bike Trail Committee meeting, Long reported that the state's decision on a complementary 20 percent DNR Stewardship Grant is expected shortly.
"When it comes to the DNR grant, we should know within the week," he said. "I'm told it looks very, very favorable, but not any more than that. We should know by the first part of next week."
Rondello said he was hopeful that the Bike Trail Committee would be successful in securing its first DNR Stewardship Grant.
"I'm very optimistic we'll get good news," he said. "It's looking very favorable."
Where the town of Boulder Junction has paid 20 percent of development costs on its previous bike trail projects, Long said he was hopeful that the town will receive DNR Stewardship Grant funding this time around.
"In the best of all worlds, it'll be fully funded," he noted. "Even if you wind up with ancillary expenses of some kind, it'll be small ... and we'll have room tax money available to be used for that..."
BJ trail to expand north on Hwy. M, west on Hwy. K
Bike Trail Committee plans call for a 2.5 mile trail expansion north of downtown Boulder Junction along Hwy. M to Dairymen's Road and a one mile expansion west of downtown along Hwy. K to a terminus near Cemetery of the Pines and Camp Manito-wish YMCA, a 90-year-old youth and family camp that also offers year-round leadership development programming.
Plans also call for the development of a 12-stall paved trailhead parking lot just off Hwy. M, accessed via Dairymen's Road. The northern trailhead on Hwy. M will lie 1.5 miles west of Dairymen's, Inc., a private 600-member Northwoods resort that draws from Milwaukee, Madison and metro Chicago.
Estimated project costs for Boulder Junction's 3.5-mile, $474558 trail expansion project include $393,000 in construction costs, a $19,950 five percent contingency reserve and a 15 percent engineering fee of $61,898. The estimated total per-mile cost for the project is $135,585.
Major construction costs include an estimated $160,642 for asphalt, $89,355 for base aggregate and nearly $80,000 for clearing, grubbing and excavation.
Eric Johnson can be reached at ejohnson@lakelandtimes.com.
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Reader Comments
Posted: Friday, October 03, 2008
Article comment by:
Kathy Green
How wonderful for Boulder Junction. It's too bad the Town of Manitowish Waters couldn't listen to the majority of its residents and business owners and elected to withdraw their application for a grant for a new bike trail. Two restaurants in Manitowish Waters closed their doors this past week due to lack of business. Apparently the town board isn't interested in drawing more people to the town, and it's tourist businesses, but instead were worried about pandering to a few vocal opponents.
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