![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/PTB-L-GREEN-DRINKS-0406-02.jpg\")
The 60-mile Marquette Greenway will stretch from Chicago\u2019s Calumet Park to downtown New Buffalo. (Northwestern Indiana Regional Planning Commission\/provided)<\/p>\nConstruction of the Marquette Greenway is in the home stretch, with about two-thirds completed.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re putting 10 miles on the ground this year, new trail,\u201d said Mitch Barloga, active transportation planning manager with the Northwestern Indiana Regional Planning Commission. \u201cThat\u2019s two-thirds of the trail done, and most of that will be in the national park and the city of Gary.\u201d<\/p>\n
When completed, the trail will stretch from Chicago\u2019s Calumet Park to downtown New Buffalo, although there\u2019s talk of extending the trail north from New Buffalo to South Haven, he said.<\/p>\n
Barloga and Rafi Wilkinson, outdoor recreation planner at Indiana Dunes National Park, offered an update on the 60-mile trail Thursday as part of the Green Drinks monthly online gathering of environmentalists.<\/p>\n
The first National Park Service management plan for the national park, produced in 1980, already saw the need for an east-west trail stretching from Mount Baldy in Michigan City to Gary\u2019s Union Station. \u201cSome 45 years later, it\u2019s finally coming to fruition,\u201d Wilkinson said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is so much infrastructure we have to go through,\u201d Wilkinson said, which drives up the cost. The trail\u2019s 45 segments will cost a total of about $120 million when it\u2019s completed.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019re not going to fund 60 miles all in one shot; you\u2019ve got to do it piece by piece,\u201d Barloga said.<\/p>\n
The 60-mile Marquette Greenway will stretch from Chicago\u2019s Calumet Park to downtown New Buffalo. (Northwestern Indiana Regional Planning Commission\/provided)<\/p>\n
\u201cWe start technically at 100th\u00a0Street in Calumet Park,\u201d Barloga said, where the trail is an improved sidewalk and appropriate signage.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe were hoping for a side path, but the city of Chicago is a bear to work with,\u201d Barloga said.<\/p>\n
Barloga just might have shamed Chicago officials into action. He shared a photo at the site of the former State Line Generating Station in Hammond, where a nice new trail was built right up to the state line on the Indiana side.<\/p>\n
On the other side, where Chicago had broken pavement, Barloga put up a \u201cWelcome to Chicago\u201d sign. \u201cThey weren\u2019t exactly pleased with it.\u201d<\/p>\n
The trail\u2019s beauty is evident at Whiting Lakefront Park, where the Northwest Indiana Regional Development Authority put up $25 million into refurbishing the park, \u201cand part of that was kicking off the Marquette Greenway,\u201d Barloga said. To commemorate the occasion, a bronze medallion was installed. \u201cIf you bronze anything, it\u2019s a permanent thing.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Marquette Greenway is part of former U.S. Rep. Pete Visclosky\u2019s decades-old Marquette Plan to gain public access to Lake Michigan.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen Congressman Visclosky was first pursuing a trail, he wanted it right on the lake, and bless his heart, we kind of can\u2019t do that,\u201d Barloga said. \u201cWe get as close as we can to the lake. We have steel mills, we have private property, we have the national park.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/PTB-L-GREEN-DRINKS-0406-04.jpg\")
A new pedestrian bridge at Wolf Lake\u2019s pavilion, and possibly a Chicago Bears stadium, protects Marquette Greenway users from heavy traffic below. (Northwestern Indiana Regional Planning Commission\/provided)<\/p>\n
In Hammond, a bridge at Wolf Lake lets bike riders and pedestrians safely cross the roadway. \u201cIt crosses over to where the Bears are going to play \u2026 OK, it crosses over to the pavilion,\u201d Barloga said.<\/p>\n
A 3.5-mile stretch between Indianapolis Boulevard and the NIPSCO property across from the South Shore Line\u2019s East Chicago station, then underneath the Indiana Toll Road and east to a bridge at Kennedy Avenue. INDOT is putting a separated bike path on a new bridge there.<\/p>\n
The new stretch continues past Seidner Dune and Swale to an old South Shore Line bridge at Cline Avenue.<\/p>\n
Seidner Dune and Swale, controlled by both the Nature Conservancy and Shirley Heinz Land Trust, is a natural area few might see without the trail. \u201cPeople are not aware of so many great parcels outside the national park,\u201d Barloga said.<\/p>\n
The old railroad bridge is \u201cstill there because you ain\u2019t moving it anywhere,\u201d Barloga said. It\u2019s all steel and concrete. \u201cThis is right smack next to the Cline Avenue Bridge, the old South Shore bridge before it was rerouted.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor reasons known only to God, Save the Dunes owns this bridge, and they would like to get rid of it, and we\u2019re happy to take it from them,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Another 3.7-mile route, in Gary\u2019s western side, stays south of the South Shore Line tracks, connecting neighborhoods in Gary to the Gary Green Link Project.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is right now under engineering review. We received some money for this from the federal government, but not nearly enough. In fact, we don\u2019t have enough to complete the engineering,\u201d Barloga said. It\u2019s a pricey stretch of trail, at about $17 million. \u201cThat\u2019s a pretty big chunk, and that\u2019s of course providing a very critical connection,\u201d he said. \u201cGetting it done, we\u2019re still looking for that funding.\u201d<\/p>\n
Barloga noted how quickly Indiana came up with money to fund a potential Chicago Bears stadium in Hammond. \u201cI\u2019m sitting here saying, I\u2019ve got a trail, and it\u2019s a lot cheaper and it\u2019s going to be enjoyed by a lot more people.\u201d<\/p>\n
In Gary, the trail connects to the Gary Metro Station, which serves both South Shore Line trains and Gary Public Transportation Corp. buses. Bikes can be rented there as well.<\/p>\n
The station is set to be replaced with a new station. Planning has begun for that effort.<\/p>\n
The trail moves on to Union Station in downtown Gary, for which the president of Decay Devils has large dreams, Wilkinson said. \u201cHopefully, someday this will become a fantastic amenity for the trail.\u201d<\/p>\n
Between there and the national park\u2019s Douglas Environmental Center in Gary\u2019s Miller neighborhood will be another costly section, with some bridge replacements in store.<\/p>\n
Design and compliance work is funded, but not construction, Wilkinson said. \u201cWe estimate that this will be a $6 million to $7 million project,\u201d including two new bridges.<\/p>\n
Design work is being done this year, compliance work next year and hopefully construction in 2028.<\/p>\n
That unbuilt section offers a bird\u2019s-eye view into the U.S. Steel complex plus a beautiful, rare black oak savannah along an old railroad bed, Wilkinson said.<\/p>\n
The National Park Service replaced \u201ctruly a bridge to nowhere that had sat over Grand Boulevard,\u201d Wilkinson said. The old bridge was built in 1999, but it was too low for truck traffic to go underneath.<\/p>\n
Between the Douglas Center and County Line Road, a new segment of the trail is now completed, with a ribbon-cutting expected later this spring, Wilkinson said.<\/p>\n
Park at either the Douglas Center or West Beach to walk or ride that segment. \u201cIt\u2019s really spectacular,\u201d Wilkinson said.<\/p>\n
The stretch from County Line Road, at West Beach, to Burns Waterway, is planned. It will connect with the South Shore Line\u2019s Portage\/Ogden Dunes Station and skirt the southern edge of Ogden Dunes to connect with Portage Lakefront Park and Riverwalk, a popular unit of the national park.<\/p>\n
![\"An](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/PTB-L-GREEN-DRINKS-0406-03.jpg\")
An artist\u2019s rendition shows what the Marquette Greenway entrance to Indiana Dunes National Park\u2019s Portage Lakefront Park and Riverwalk unit could look like. (Northwestern Indiana Regional Planning Commission\/provided)<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is the location of a new museum, the Sand and Steel Museum,\u201d planned at the site of the Portage Park Department\u2019s open-air pavilion, Wilkinson said.<\/p>\n
From there, a section of the trail will cross Burns Waterway and go to the NIRPC office in the Ameriplex development. \u201cIt is completely outside the national park, but thankfully, Mayor (Austin) Bonta and the city of Portage have taken up the charge to get this section complete,\u201d Wilkinson said.<\/p>\n
An old railroad bridge at Crisman Road, parallel to Ind. 249, will be reused or replaced. \u201cThat would be a fantastic reuse of a historic structure,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cLook at how amazing it would be to be able to ride that and have that be the major entrance into the Portage Lakefront part of the national park,\u201d Wilkinson said.<\/p>\n
From Ameriplex to beyond Burns Harbor\u2019s municipal complex has already been completed. A bit past Ind. 149 is \u201cone of the key blocks this trail has had for decades,\u201d Wilkinson said.<\/p>\n
Construction has finally started for the trail to go under the Norfolk Southern main line.<\/p>\n
Porter has started its construction along Beam Street along the southern edge of Minoke Prairie.<\/p>\n
The Porter Brickyard Trail will connect the Marquette Greenway to the Prairie Duneland Trail, which becomes Oak Savannah Trail in Hobart and continues into Griffith.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is really an important junction where the Marquette Greenway will hook into a broader trail system,\u201d Wilkinson said.<\/p>\n
The Porter section has over 1,000 feet of boardwalk, hopefully completed by next spring. \u201cIt\u2019ll be a dramatic piece of riding when it\u2019s done,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI always think that Burns Harbor and Porter are the little towns that could and do. They have very small populations but they have figured out ways to build a lot of this trail, which is very expensive,\u201d Wilkinson said.<\/p>\n
Porter Brickyard Trail goes into a nice overpass over U.S. 12 at Mineral Springs Road.<\/p>\n
The Marquette Green incorporates \u201cmaybe the region\u2019s oldest regional trail, the Calumet Trail,\u201d a little over 9 miles long, Wilkinson. The Calumet Trail was originally built through NIPSCO\u2019s power line corridor. \u201cIt really was kind of dangerous to ride,\u201d becoming a lake at times, Wilkinson said. \u201cI personally have seen small fish on this trail before it was fixed.\u201d<\/p>\n
Now the trail is being raised with trench drains to keep it above the wetland Mother Nature decided it should become. It\u2019s paved, too, an important feature of the Marquette Greenway. To meet Americans with Disabilities Act standards, grades are less than 5%, as well as being paved.<\/p>\n
A stretch of the trail from Ind. 49 to Broadway in Beverly Shores is expected to be completed this year. An adjacent segment is fully funded and needs to be built.<\/p>\n
A $4 million federal grant for a segment from Beverly Shores eastward was awarded Thursday. \u201cIt\u2019s so new I don\u2019t have any timelines on it,\u201d Wilkinson said.<\/p>\n
In Michigan City, the trail doesn\u2019t follow a straight line. Former city Planning Director Craig Phillips convinced Barloga to use an isolated trail that takes the Marquette Green into neighborhoods and commercial areas, into some areas \u201cthat people never knew were there, some isolated remnants.\u201d<\/p>\n
Surprises like shipping containers found in an old landfill the trail crosses led to \u201cquite a bit of overrun for the construction,\u201d Barloga said. Michigan City\u2019s remaining unbuilt portion of the trail is funded, to be built within the next two to three years.<\/p>\n
In New Buffalo, the trail goes past dispensaries \u2013 \u201cso have fun while you\u2019re in New Buffalo,\u201d Barloga quipped \u2013 before it ends downtown.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt that point, there\u2019s a whole \u2018nother effort to get it to go north to South Haven,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Doug Ross is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Construction of the Marquette Greenway is in the home stretch, with about two-thirds completed. \u201cWe\u2019re putting 10 miles…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":707089,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5124],"tags":[960,56951,33131,746,30214,56952,38106,56953,5386,1818,2862,4010,728,56954,56955,50,56956,56957,56950,56958],"class_list":["post-707088","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-chicago","tag-chicago","tag-crown-point","tag-east-chicago","tag-environment","tag-gary","tag-griffith","tag-hammond","tag-highland","tag-il","tag-illinois","tag-indiana","tag-lake-county","tag-local-news","tag-merrillville","tag-munster","tag-news","tag-portage","tag-porter-county","tag-post-tribune","tag-valparaiso"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116353626188352847","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/707088","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=707088"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/707088\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/707089"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=707088"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=707088"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=707088"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}