LITTLE CHUTE, WI (WTAQ) – The Village of Little Chute and City of Kaukauna are teaming up to make a major connecting point for the Loop the Locks initiative.
A ‘groundbreaking’ and progress gathering was held Tuesday afternoon to mark the start of construction of the David and Rita Nelson Family Heritage Crossing. The hope is that it will create a new connecting point for the two communities.
“A bridge that’s going to cross the fox river connecting the Little Chute trail system and the City of Kaukauna trail system,” says Little Chute Parks and Recreation Director Adam Breest, “Creating a trail which if you worked in Kaukauna, worked in Little Chute, if you worked in downtown or the commercial area there – you could bike to work or walk to work in a safe fashion. You don’t have to go over the Highway N bridge, you don’t have to go over the Highway 55 bridge.”
Construction on the trail actually started two and a half weeks ago, so Tuesday’s groundbreaking was less about ceremonial dirts and shovels – and more about current progress.
“Right now, we have a mile and a half on our side. It’s already paved, asphalted, everything. Then there’s another mile, mile and a half on the Kaukauna side. So we would have 3 miles that are adjacent to the river, you know the revitalization of the river,” Breest tells WTAQ News, “It’s quite a long stretch. It’s 1,200 feet of bridge that stretches across the Fox River.”
But the connection of the trail systems isn’t just a two community affair. The effort also plays a role in the larger Loop the Locks initiative within Outagamie County.
“The county in 2018 put the initiative out there for Loop the Locks basically to loop through Kimberly, Little Chute, Kaukauna, Appleton and areas around for 13 miles,” Breest explains.
The pedestrian bridge and three miles of trails in Little Chute and Kaukauna is estimated to cost $3.3 million. But local groups like the Community Foundation of Fox Valley, Outagamie County, and even the Great Wisconsin Cheese Fest have put money towards the effort. The project also qualified for state and federal funds, and received $1.1 million in stewardship funds from the Wisconsin DNR and National Parks Service.
“In the end, we had $2.8 million in donations or grants – so it’s a very heavily grant and donation funded project,” Breest says.
To learn more about the project, head to the Village of Little Chute’s website.
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