Copyright M Live Michigan
ANN ARBOR, MI — Dan Ezekiel said he has lived in Ann Arbor since 1964 and the North Main Street area has been a barrier to cycling the entire time. “It is just a dream that we can travel under the railroad tracks safely now and avoid North Main, and get on Huron River Drive and see all these beautiful natural areas outside town,” he said. Ezekiel, an avid cyclist and Washtenaw County Parks and Recreation Commission secretary, was among hundreds of community members and officials on hand for the grand opening of Ann Arbor’s new Barton-Bandemer Tunnel on a crisp fall afternoon Wednesday, Nov. 5. The highly anticipated path for pedestrians and cyclists provides a new Border-to-Border Trail link between Bandemer Park and the Barton Nature Area along the Huron River, in a spot where many people illegally crossed the tracks before. Other nearby nature areas it helps better connect include Bird Hills, Kuebler Langford, Hilltop and Argo. City and county park officials gave speeches Wednesday before ceremonially cutting a red ribbon to open the tunnel, while B2B Trail stickers and other swag were handed out. “This has been a really incredible project,” County Parks Director Meghan Bonfiglio said, calling it a long time in the making. “Something like this, with this type of scope and scale, doesn’t just happen overnight,” she said. Bonfiglio thanked project team members, including project managers Hillary Hanzel and Peter Sanderson from city and county parks, Davis Construction, the engineering team from Wade Trim, OHM Advisors and Colliers, as well as others. The Huron Waterloo Pathways Initiative was another project partner, bringing funding from the Ralph C. Wilson Jr. Foundation and other private donors. Detroit Metal Elements fabricated a metal public art installation by artist Tatum Lowry that lines the tunnel walls. Called “Ode to Huron,” it depicts plants and animals living along the river. The Ann Arbor Art Center helped coordinate it. Bonfiglio also thanked Amtrak and the Michigan Department of Transportation’s Office of Rail for cooperating. “Cutting open a railroad and having 48 hours to make a project happen takes incredible coordination and collaboration,” she said of the concrete culvert installation earlier this year that formed the base tunnel structure now decked in stone at its entrances and surrounded by newly planted landscaping. The tunnel represents more than just access between two parks, Ezekiel said. “It’s a major connection along the B2B Trail that allows County Parks, Huron Waterloo Pathways Initiative and our other partners to realize our ambitious goal of connecting communities all across the county, from Wayne County on the east to Jackson County on the west,” he said. There are about 45 miles of B2B Trail constructed now. The largest remaining gap is between Ann Arbor and Dexter, Ezekiel said, and the Barton-Bandemer Tunnel is a vital step toward completing that connection. It also allows his daughter and son-in-law to commute to work safely from Scio Township now, he said. Kiff Hamp, Huron Waterloo Pathways Initiative executive director, said in his decade-plus working in the nonprofit space, never has he worked with a foundation that was such a true partner as the Ralph C. Wilson Jr. Foundation. “We were in a situation where we had to raise a lot of money — $2 million-plus — in a pretty short order, and we went to meet with them in Detroit in their office and came up with a plan to put a grant together,” he said. The project would not have happened in the same timeframe without the foundation, he said. The Detroit-based foundation was set up by the late founder of the NFL’s Buffalo Bills. It has been funding trail connections and parks in western New York and southeast Michigan for the last eight years, President and CEO David Egner said. That includes along Lake Erie in Buffalo where there’s now a bridge that connects a disadvantaged neighborhood to a 100- acre park, Egner said. “That was my favorite project until today,” he said, standing in front of the Barton-Bandemer Tunnel. “Nothing will connect people more than the trail that we’re standing on now,” he said. “I’ve seen it today, and that will be the future of what this tunnel will mean and what these trails will mean throughout southeast Michigan.” He’s still rooting for a Bills-Lions Super Bowl, he added, saying, “I think we’re going to get there.” City Council approved contracts totaling over $6 million for the Barton-Bandemer project, including paving a nature trail through the Barton Nature Area to make it part of the B2B Trail. Tunnel lighting installation remains to be completed in the coming days. “The opening of this tunnel brings together so many things that are crucial and fundamental to the community in Ann Arbor,” Mayor Christopher Taylor said. The vision for the tunnel, which improves safety, health and access to nature, did not come from city hall — it came from the community, Taylor said. “And it’s just a great and glorious thing,” he said. The nearby Broadway Park West, another new link to the B2B Trail just north of downtown Ann Arbor, was celebrated at a grand opening event in September.
