New trail coming to SW Oakland County *soon*

[WishIcouldcatchmybreath]

Work on the the old "Airline" Railroad in Wixom/Commerce/Walled Lake is progressing well. All of the rails and ties have been removed between Wixom Rd and Haggerty Rd. I'll be honest and admit that I don't know the timeline for completion, nor do I know what the final surface will consist of, but I'm excited that there will soon be a new trail option out my back door. On Sunday, I rode from Wixom Rd all the way up to Orchard Lake Rd (the 3rd crossing of that road, just west of Telegraph).

http://app.strava.com/rides/10045720

The surface is currently loose (bulldozed) gravel....ranging from VERY loose in some sections, to hard pack in others....not the funnest surface to ride at the moment, but doable if you are (or should be ) committed.

I've been told that the old railroad bed on the west side of Wixom Rd (between Wixom Rd and Old Plank Rd) will also be included in the eventual completed Rail Trail. That section had the rails and ties removed long ago, and is very rideable as is right now.

When this section is completed, you will be able to ride from South Lyon all the way out to the village of Richmond in Macomb County, with the exception of one short stretch through Pontiac, which is easily ridden on city streets by detouring north to Auburn Rd.

[c0nsumer]

Hmm. This means that the Tree Farm is easily reachable from my house. A long-ish ride, but none the less possible.

Sounds like you all should make it an Extra Massive Fallout this autumn, too.

[Sortaslow]

That would be el grande massive fallout.

[risnewski]

Very cool. I had no idea they were already working on it. What's the M5 crossing like?

[AirGuitar29]

The M5 railroad crossing is still in place, as are all of the old railroad crossings on this recently demolished line. I'm not sure what the future plans are for crossing M-5, but I'd imagine some sort of bridge, or possibly rerouting the trail to cross at a road intersection. They haven't yet begun building the trail and I haven't been able to locate many detailed plans online.

[c0nsumer]

As a suggestion, call the county or whatever authority is overseeing the project and ask which engineering firm is handling it. Then call the engineering firm and ask if you can talk to someone about that project. I find if you just state which organization you are with and politely ask for some drawings (since you are really interested) they'll send them to you. After all, by doing gov't work they are already beholden to the public, so by asking nicely you can usually get loads of info.

[bones]

This will be cool when it's done. The official West Bloomfield trail currently starts at Arrowhead and heads east to Telegraph (crossing Orchard Lk a couple times), but it will eventually go west to Wixom Rd. When heading eastbound, instead of risking your life multiple times by taking Auburn road through the heart of Pontiac, I'd recommend hanging a right (south) on Bagley, go past the golf course to South Blvd, and then take South Blvd east to Opdyke and the Clinton River trail, risking your life just once while crossing over Woodward. -Bernie

[Critter7r]

I thought that the RR tracks were going to remain intact from Wixom Rd to the American Plastic Toys facility. Is the plan still going to be to run the trail next to the RR tracks? Or is APT going to not be able to have plastic beads shipped to them by rail any more?

[Critter7r]

The M5 railroad crossing is still in place, as are all of the old railroad crossings on this recently demolished line. I'm not sure what the future plans are for crossing M-5, but I'd imagine some sort of bridge, or possibly rerouting the trail to cross at a road intersection. They haven't yet begun building the trail and I haven't been able to locate many detailed plans online.

An easy route to use until the several hundred thousand dollars necessary to build a bridge over M5 become available is to head south to Maple and cross at the crosswalks that are available there. It's only about a quarter-mile from the trail to Maple on either M5 or Welch.

[AirGuitar29]

I thought that the RR tracks were going to remain intact from Wixom Rd to the American Plastic Toys facility. Is the plan still going to be to run the trail next to the RR tracks? Or is APT going to not be able to have plastic beads shipped to them by rail any more?

The tracks have actually been completely removed all the way to the CSX main line in Wixom, so there will be no more rail shipments to American Plastic Toys.

Fun, but strange, fact: American Plastic Toys was formerly known as "*beep* Toys"

[Critter7r]

i think they kept that name until the mid-90's. I grew up in a neighborhood about a mile down Ladd Rd from there.

I wonder if there is giong to any formal pedestian connection to the trail that starts on the other side of Atmosphere Furnace and goes to Island Lake Rec, or if travellers will just have to hoof it over the tracks and thru their parking lot.

[Wolverine]

Is this the same tracks the theatre dinner car used to use?

[ColorVoyeur]

Yes. Same track.

[jrshome]

What I need is a connection from this to 275 pathway. Wasn't something in the works for a northbound route?

[WallEyed]

What I need is a connection from this to 275 pathway. Wasn't something in the works for a northbound route?

Yep, there are plans for a route running along M5. Novi has completed the segment between 13 Mile and 14 Mile. It's kind of sketchy getting from the end of the 275 to the newly built section, you have to ride north along Meadowbrook (on the road) past 12 Mile, then you can pick up side paths (or stay on the road) on Meadowbrook between 12 Mile and 13 Mile, then cut over to M5 on side paths.

There is nothing built yet from 14 Mile past 15 Mile to the new rail trail.