for about 10 years, so how neat it was to be able to work on it."

There also was a bit of pressure from an entity here and there.

"There was Grand Rapids Township, East Grand Rapids, the City of Grand Rapids, MDOT, the Kent County Road Commission, and the DEQ to please," Camp said. "And, oh by the way, glass bowl East Grand Rapids. I was very conscious of working in my own town." The trail will be completed by mid-September with the formal dedication in October. For now, some railings and fencing still need to be installed so walkers should exercise caution.

A normally low-key member of the East Grand Rapids School Board and the Park and Recreation Commission, Camp said he was "geeked" about his firm's engineering accomplishments. One of the biggest is how a 440-foot stretch of cement walkway was able to be suspended through the marshes of Reeds Lake balanced on slender 2-inch pipes which were attached to helical pylons augured through 60 feet of muck to solid ground. Camp likes to jump on the boardwalk to demonstrate how it does not move at all. The state's Department of Environmental Quality gave its approval to the project because it has minimal impact on surrounding wetlands.

There also are drains along the steep decline of the Hall Street hill to prevent flooding that occurs at the corner of Hall Street and Reeds Lake Boulevard. "We'd wade through it or we'd hitch a ride through it," said Nancy Wanty, who enjoys walking the area. "We'd see a little island and we'd tiptoe across it."

The loop around Reeds Lake has actually been a dangerous one, pointed out Public Safety Director Peter Gallagher. The road itself it steep and winding, and shoulders were nonexistent in spots because of vegetation. "It's very narrow, it's very poor sight distance. Cars come up the hill, pedestrians are coming down the hill, and there was so much potential for conflict there," he said.

Now, pedestrians and bike riders are safely off the road on their own 10-foot-wide path. "It's definitely safer, yet it provides a welcome venue for the numerous walkers, joggers and moms with strollers," Gallagher said

The success is due, in no small part, to Camp himself who waited five years for the financial end of the project to be worked out. "Every time I ran through here I thought, "How am I going to do this?"

Camp was figuring out ways to graciously carve 5 to 10 feet of right-of-way through the homes of private citizens, using landscaping techniques and boulder retaining walls. Meanwhile, East Grand Rapids and Grand Rapids Township officials were patiently negotiating with private land owners and dealing with state regulations.

What got the trail off to its start was a $400,000 pledge by an anonymous donor several year ago. The first $100,000 went for engineering the entire trail -- a second half is planned for completion in 2006 -- and the $300,000 went toward construction of phase one. State and local grants made up the rest of the nearly $600,000 needed for the project.

The second half of the project will also cost about $600,000. Grand Rapids Township, East Grand Rapids and the Urban Cooperation Board have each pledged $50,000. The Peter Wege Foundation pledged $100,000.

"The remaining $350,000 needs to come from private donations because state funding for the project is at an end," East Grand Rapids City Manager Brian Donovan said. "At the official dedication in October, we'll make another effort to push fundraising," he said. "This seems to be very well received, and we'll try to take advantage of that."

This is the project everybody is eager to take advantage of, Camp said, noting that during construction, people had to check it out. "Even when just the gravel was here," Camp said of the path, "I was cheating like everybody
else."

© 2004 Grand Rapids Press. Used with permission