New trail opens connecting Lafayette and West Lafayette

A new trail project connecting Lafayette and West Lafayette over the Wabash River opened Wednesday.

The Indiana Department of Natural Resources announced that the project adds 0.9 miles of new trail along the Lafayette side of Sagamore Parkway, built by the City of Lafayette and the Wabash River Enhancement Corporation.

There’s also 0.6 miles of new trail on the West Lafayette side of Sagamore Parkway, built by the City of West Lafayette and the Tippecanoe County Metropolitan Planning Organization.

The new trails are multi-use, meaning they can be used for walking or biking. The two trails are connected to each other through a protected bike lane on the Sagamore Parkway Bridge.

“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 new trails are the first of several trail projects coming to the area. The end result will be an eight mile looped section of the Wabash River Greenway that connects the two cities with each other, Purdue University, Prophetstown State Park and seven local parks.

Officials used a $2.7 million grant from the state’s Next Level Trails program to build the new trail. The program has given out $180 million in grant funding to 89 different trail projects across the state.