INDIANAPOLIS — Angola and Steuben County have received funding through the Next Level Trails grant process that will extend the local trail from Hendry Park Elementary School in Angola south to Pleasant Lake, it was announced on Wednesday.
The two entities received more than $5.22 million in Indiana Department of Natural Resources grant funding that when paired with the local matches will cover nearly $7 million in project costs.
John Longenecker, president of the non-profit Steuben County Trails, gave credit for the success at the state level to Amanda Cope, Angola’s engineer, and Chip Porter, the Steuben County Highway Department engineer.
“Chip Porter did a good job. We were glad to support him,” Longenecker said. “Amanda did a ton of work. She does amazing work.”
The grant proposal was written for the two entities by Butler Fairman and Seufert, an Indianapolis engineering firm that has worked with Steuben County on its trail project between Wendell Jacob Avenue to Pokagon State Park.
The grants were announced by Gov. Eric Holcomb in LaCrosse. Officials from Angola, including Mayor Richard Hickman and Mayor-elect Dave Martin were on hand, as were Porter and Steuben County Commissioner Ken Shelton.
The grants to the city and county will extend the Poka-Bache Trail 3.2 miles south from the southern city limits of Angola to the town of Pleasant Lake.
The project is a part of a visionary trail corridor that runs through four counties, from Pokagon State Park at the northern terminus to Ouabache State Park at the southern terminus, the DNR announcement said.
This project is in conjunction with Angola’s and Steuben County’s portion of the Poka-Bache Trail. Upon completion, the local portion of the Poka-Bache Trail will extend more than 11 miles through Steuben County.
The existing trail extends from Pokagon, south to Commons Park in Angola, near Hendry Park Elementary School.
Initially Steuben Trails officials had hoped to try to receive funding to pay for trail work from Angola to the Steuben-DeKalb border but it was clawed back because it was thought the chances were better for getting a grant for a lesser rather than larger amount.
The Round Four grants will cover 14 trail projects out of 47 requests.
The $5.22 million received by Angola and Steuben County represents about 17% of the $31.2 million in Next Level Trails grant funding awarded. Combined with $15.5 million in local match value, the state will realize a total of $46.7 million invested in local trails.
Angola’s match is about $1.06 million and the county’s is about $2.10 million.
More than 27 miles of trail will be developed in 12 Indiana counties with the Round Four grants, the DNR said.
“It’s exciting,” Longenecker said. “We’re here to support and keep pushing to get the work done.”
Steuben County Trails supported the grant applications for both the city and county by providing funds for the application development fees, preparing the engineering feasibility study for the Poka-Bache corridor and conducting master trail plan development.
It helped that Angola and Steuben County worked collaboratively on a shared project.
Longenecker noted there will be only about 3.2 miles to go to reach the DeKalb County border.
One benefit is that the trail will run along Old U.S. 27, which is a county road, therefore eliminating the need to acquire much if any right of way. That also helped reduce Steuben County’s cost of running the trail from Angola to Pleasant Lake.
It is expected the city will construct its portion of the trail in 2025 and the county in 2026.
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