Soon there will be a new trail in Rhinelander
Last week, the City Council unanimously approved a plan to create a biking and walking path on the west side of the city.
In Rhinelander, there aren’t many recreational paths.
Ben Meyer is a Rhinelander resident working with the city’s parks department to try and change that.
A note to listeners: Meyer is a former contributor for WXPR.
“The far west side of [the] city of Rhinelander is essentially isolated for people who are seeking to walk or bike into the rest of their city,” explained Meyer.
The streets that are available are busy, have no sidewalks, and wouldn’t be safe to walk down.
“I knocked on the doors of every one of my neighbors over 100 households here on the west side of Rhinelander, to get their thoughts and I was, you know, presented, or I was met with, really, quite a lot of support,” said Meyer.
There was opposition to the path by people whose property borders the land where the trail would go.
Rhinelander City Parks Director Jeremy Biolo says he thinks they can put in the trail so there’s some foliage blocking views of the homes there.
“If we make a little, you know, a couple little S-curves within that 19 feet, we can easily get some balsams in there or some type of tree, whatever the soil looks like,” he said.
The plan is to connect the end of West Hill Drive with the corner of Lois and Phillip Street in Rhinelander.
City workers will spread either crushed limestone or granite gravel for a walkway.
There’s no additional funding source needed since the city budgets for these types of projects.
“People and families want to live in communities that are connected by trails and connected by sidewalks that makes for an attractive and vibrant community. And this helps Rhinelander take another step towards that goal to being an overall more walkable and bikeable city for the people that live here and the people that we help develop families here into the future,” said Meyer.
The trail should be completed no later than spring of next year.
