Construction on Ridge Run Trail to begins in spring
Trail will connect to the Pumpkinvine north of U.S. 20
By Dick Cook
After years of planning and fundraising, the Friends of the Middlebury Parks have signed a contract with Niblock Excavating and Asphalt to build the Ridge Run Trail system. The trail will connect That Pretty Place Bed and Breakfast, the Greencroft Middlebury Retirement Community, the Essenhaus campus and the Middlebury Schools campus with the Pumpkinvine Nature Trail. Construction was to have started last fall, but due to Niblock’s heavy construction schedule for other projects, construction is now scheduled to begin in spring 2017, according to Jacob Hoeger, Niblock spokesperson. The new trail will have an asphalt surface, be 10-feet wide and connect to the Pumpkinvine just north of the tunnel under U.S. 20. The spurs to Greencroft Middlebury and the Essenhaus will be 10-feet wide, and the Greencroft spur will be packed stone.
The Ridge Run Trail project was made possible from the support of the members of the Friends of the Middlebury Parks organization, grants from the State of Indiana’s Place Based Investment Fund and the Community Foundation of Elkhart County, donations from the Corson Family Foundation, the Das Dutchman Essenhaus and Greencroft Middlebury; as well as contributions from over 100 individuals, families, civic clubs, family foundations and businesses.