The Indiana Department of Natural Resources (DNR) and the city of Lafayette celebrated the completion of the Sagamore Parkway Trail in Lafayette today.

The asphalt multi-use trail was constructed by the city of Lafayette with help from a $2,706,700 Next Level Trails (NLT) grant. The award was announced by Gov. Eric J. Holcomb in April 2022 as part of the third grant round of NLT.

“Next Level Trails is all about making connections between and within communities,” said Dan Bortner, DNR director. “The completion of the Sagamore Parkway Trail is the latest of more than 100 miles of new trail connections that have been built with support from Next Level Trails. DNR is proud to come alongside partners in Lafayette to make this new trail possible.”

The new trail adds 0.90 miles of trail along Sagamore Parkway between 9th Street and the Wabash River Bridge. Trail connections occur on both sides of the completed project, including a connection to multi-use paths along 9th Street, the Wabash River Heritage Trail, and the city of West Lafayette’s section of the Sagamore Parkway Trail. Completion of the project links Lafayette and West Lafayette over the Wabash River.

Today’s ribbon cutting opens the Lafayette Sagamore Parkway Trail, funded by NLT and built by the city of Lafayette and the Wabash River Enhancement Corporation, as well as the new 0.6-mile West Lafayette Sagamore Parkway Trail, built by the city of West Lafayette and the Tippecanoe County Metropolitan Planning Organization. These trails connect via the protected bike lane on the Sagamore Parkway Bridge over the Wabash River.

These projects are the first of multiple, funded trail projects, which will create an eight-mile looped section of the Wabash River Greenway connecting the communities, county, and Purdue University to each other, Prophetstown State Park, and seven local, municipal, and county parks.

“This is an exciting time for Lafayette-West Lafayette, Tippecanoe County, and Purdue University,” said Stanton Lambert, executive director of the Wabash River Enhancement Corporation. “The Wabash River Enhancement Corporation and the city of Lafayette, along with our community partners in West Lafayette and the county, are thrilled to open this newest section of the Wabash River Greenway, which connects Lafayette and West Lafayette and Purdue University to each other and to the Wabash River Corridor.”

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. Forty of the 89 NLT projects are complete, totaling more than 105 miles of trail built since the program’s inception. Several projects are under construction, with many more slated to break ground during the next year.

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