Crews were putting the final touches on a $3 million renovation at Crahen Valley Park in Grand Rapids Township this week, capping a construction push that began last fall and added nearly 1.7 miles of newly paved trails, rest stops and scenic overlooks to the 200-acre park off East Beltline Avenue.
The centerpiece of the project is a new trail connector featuring a half-mile of ADA-compliant switchbacks that navigate a 120-foot vertical elevation drop between the park's upper and lower trail sections, according to MLive. Grand Rapids Township Facilities Manager Wayne Harrall said crews were cleaning up areas used for staging as of Oct. 20, signaling the work was essentially finished. Harrall described the upgrades as designed to preserve the park's natural beauty rather than overhaul it, saying the park was already great before the improvements and that the project simply adds to it.
A Decades-in-the-Making Trail Connection
The renovation fulfills what the township identified back in 2013 as its number-one priority: tying its nonmotorized trail network together through the park. At the time, township officials said, “It is our number-one priority to tie the trail network in through the park,” a goal rooted in a 2012 resident survey that found the community was most interested in nonmotorized trails and passive recreation like hiking, biking and nature exploration, per the same MLive account.
Crahen Valley Park was assembled from two separate properties over the course of more than a decade. The township purchased the south side, formerly a family farm, in 2003, and the north side, a former 86-acre sand mine, in 2009. A pedestrian and cyclist bridge over a ravine followed in 2015, and the park has continued to grow into what MLive describes as more than six miles of paved and unpaved walking paths today.
Retaining Walls Ate Up Nearly Half the Budget
Roughly 40% of the project's cost went toward extensive retaining walls needed to stabilize the hillside terrain, amounting to roughly 1.5 miles of blocks laid end to end, the report notes. Harrall also said there is no other trail like Crahen Valley Park's trail anywhere else in Kent County, an assessment that underscores how unusual the switchback-and-retaining-wall engineering is for a township park.
Funding figures for the project differ depending on the source. MLive reports that roughly $1.47 million of the $3 million project was covered by federal funding, with Grand Rapids Township reserves funding the remainder. The township's own project page, however, describes a $1.45 million grant paired with $2.55 million in township funds. The township page also notes that officials worked closely with the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy to preserve existing and potential wetlands while designing the new trail.
What the New Trail Looks Like
According to the township's project page, the new route is being built to meet Americans with Disabilities Act standards and will include rest stops and scenic overlooks along the way. It will remain strictly nonmotorized, open to walkers, cyclists and strollers but closed to motorized vehicles, keeping the park's trail system isolated from vehicle traffic. The Kent County Road Commission is serving as construction manager on the build, with Dean's Excavating and Landscaping handling the contracting work.
Today, the park has 2.6 miles of paved trails and 3.7 miles of unmaintained walking paths winding through its forests, meadows, creeks, ponds, wetlands and the former sand mining site. Located at 4355 Leonard St. NE just minutes from East Beltline Avenue, Crahen Valley Park has quietly grown from a pair of disconnected land purchases into one of the township's signature outdoor destinations, with this latest renovation finally stitching its upper and lower trail sections together.
