The Indiana Department of Natural Resources (DNR), Next Level Trails (NLT), the town of Schererville, and the Lake County Parks Department opened a newly completed segment of the Pennsy Greenway in Schererville today.

The asphalt multi-use trail extension will extend 2.33 miles connecting the existing Pennsy Greenway southeast from Rohrman Park to Clark Road. Of this trail extension, 1.5 miles are currently open, with an additional 0.83-mile section slated to be complete in June. The new trail will increase the total mileage of the Pennsy Greenway Trail to 12.5 miles, connecting Schererville with Crown Point, Munster, and Lansing, Illinois. The trail was built with help from a $2.9 million NLT grant awarded in 2019 as part of the first round of NLT grant funding.

“Trails like this one are building a higher quality of place and space, connecting communities, and giving us another reason to get outside and explore,” said Dan Bortner, DNR director. “Not only is this a big development for all of Schererville, but it is a crucial building block, connecting communities in northwest Indiana.”

The Pennsy is part of the Great American Rail-Trail, a planned route organized by the Rails-to-Trails Conservancy (RTC) from Washington, D.C. to Washington state. Including the Pennsy extension, approximately 56% of the Great American’s 214 planned miles across Indiana are complete. 

In addition to being part of the Great American, the Pennsy is part of the American Discovery Trail.

“The Next Level Trails program has been crucial to the town of Schererville and Lake County Parks in completing the final phase of the Pennsy Greenway through Schererville,” said John Novacich, superintendent of Schererville Parks and Recreation. “The Pennsy Greenway Northwest will continue to grow in popularity and usage for the region with completion of this phase.”

“On behalf of the Lake County Parks and Recreation Department, we are proud to have partnered with the town of Schererville in extending the Pennsy Greenway,” said Jim Basala, CEO of Lake County Parks. “This project completes one more segment of an ever-growing network of trails in Lake County.”

As part of Gov. Holcomb’s Next Level Connections initiative, NLT is the largest infusion of trails funding in state history. The now $180 million program is administered by the DNR and facilitates critical trail connections within and between Hoosier communities.

Including the Pennsy Greenway, 18 of the 75 NLT projects are complete, totaling 56.6 miles of trail built since the program’s inception. An additional 48 miles is under construction, and 140 more miles are in the pre-construction phase of development.

More information about the NLT is at on.IN.gov/NextLevelTrails.

To view more DNR news releases, please see dnr.IN.gov.