Construction kicks off next Monday on a roughly $10 million pedestrian tunnel under Northland Drive in Plainfield Township, Kent County, a project meant to give walkers and cyclists a safer, uninterrupted route under one of the region's busiest roads while knitting new trail segments into the Grand River Greenway.
What the tunnel will do
The tunnel will pass beneath Northland Drive at the Rogue River and 7 Mile Road corridor and tie into a new stretch of trail on the east side of Northland. That path will run about a half-mile, linking 7 Mile Road to Cannonsburg Road and connecting with the White Pine Trail and routes into Ada Township, according to the Kent County Parks Department. The project is one of several Grand River Greenway efforts heading into construction this year to close long-standing gaps in the regional trail system, as reported by MLive.
Funding and timetable
The tunnel comes with an estimated $10 million construction cost, and county planners say crews will phase work to keep traffic as smooth as possible while the roadway is tunneled. Media reports put substantial completion in late fall, and the project is expected to hit major completion around November 2026, according to WOOD TV. The broader Grand River Greenway effort got a major push from a 2022 state allocation that directed $55 million to expand riverfront parks and trails, per Governor Gretchen Whitmer.
Officials frame it as safety and connection
Kent County Parks Director Ben Swayze has framed the tunnel as both a safety fix and a connector, saying the project is about linking communities and removing a major barrier for people using the trail network. He called the groundbreaking a milestone in creating continuous trail connections in comments to WOOD TV. Grand River Greenway project manager Catherine Zietse added that "all of our projects are scheduled and on track to be finished by the end of the year," underscoring the push to wrap up several Greenway segments this season, as reported by MLive.
Closures, phases and what to expect
Plainfield Township notices warn drivers to expect intermittent closures along the northbound shoulder of Northland Drive during the first phase of work, along with staged traffic controls as crews dig beneath the road. Contractors plan to open trail pieces as they are finished, so users can start taking advantage of the new connections as soon as possible. Township updates are steering residents to project web pages for ongoing schedule changes and detour information, according to Plainfield Township.
How this fits into the bigger picture
On paper, the Northland tunnel may look like a small construction job, but it plugs a critical hole in a much bigger plan. The Grand River Greenway is envisioned as an 85-plus-mile corridor of parks and connected trails running the length of the river. That vision, and the near-term projects flowing from it, are being coordinated among local partners and supported by state and local funding to speed up connections from downtown Grand Rapids out to Ada, Lowell, and beyond, according to the Grand River Network and Downtown Grand Rapids Inc.'s planning materials.
