ANN ARBOR TOWNSHIP, MI - A new two-mile trail in Ann Arbor Township will provide a route from Matthaei Botanical Gardens to the University of Michigan's other campuses while connecting other trails in the county when it officially opens on Saturday, Oct. 14.

The Matthaei Botanical Gardens Trail will provide a path for hiking and biking, connecting the botanical gardens to Washtenaw County's Parker Mill Park to the south, with connections to the regional Border-to-Border Trail, the local Gallup Park pathway, and UM's Nichols Arboretum and Central Campus.

The trail also provides a safer travel route that parallels but avoids Dixboro Road, a busy Washtenaw County artery with a narrow shoulder.

Matthaei-Nichols Associate Director Karen Sikkenga said the finished trail, which cost around $1.7 million to construct, is a benefit to those who commute from the gardens to other university campuses, and those in the community who don't always use motorized transportation.

Beyond local trail systems, the pathway expands on existing non-motorized connections to U-M's Medical Center and Central and North campuses, St. Joseph Mercy Hospital, Eastern Michigan University and Ypsilanti, Concordia University and Washtenaw County Community College, as well as public transportation to these destinations.

The Matthaei Botanical Gardens Trail will provide a path for hiking and biking, connecting the botanical gardens to Washtenaw County's Parker Mill Park to the south, with connections to the regional Border-to-Border Trail, the local Gallup Park pathway, and UM's Nichols Arboretum and Central Campus.

"We had more and more people riding their bikes out to the gardens since Dixboro Road doesn't have a shoulder and people drive very fast," Sikkenga said. "For us it was a very high priority to create a safe non-motorized transportation link to both Central and north Campus - but we were also thinking about our community by taking the trail along Gallup Park and the Border to Border Trail link."

The completed trail caps a multi-year collaboration between UM and Ann Arbor Township along with other government entities, businesses and individuals. The trail is located entirely within Ann Arbor Township and travels over land owned by the university, which granted an easement for the trail.

Because funding sources for a public infrastructure project of this scope were available only to local government bodies, not to universities, the Ann Arbor Township was the sole entity eligible to receive grants.

Sikkenga said around 80 percent of the funding for the trail comes from federal, local and state government grants. Washtenaw County Parks, the Michigan Department of Natural Resources, Ann Arbor Township and Department of Transportation together provided more than $2.5 million for the trail construction. In addition to the grants, more than 125 individuals and businesses contributed almost $800,000 toward the trail.

The original donors of the land were the Matthaei family, and members of that family were major donors for the trail.

"The university gave the perpetual public easement for the trail, which is a really great contribution to the community," Sikkenga said. "It was the botanical garden's strategic objective to have this trail, but the university isn't eligible for grants. We just couldn't have done it on our own."

Additional funding received for the project is expected to provide improvements to parking lots along the trailhead area, while converting the driveway to Matthaei into a bicycle friendly extension, installing sharrows along the road.

Sikkenga is confident residents will find the trail to be a welcomed addition to the county's trail system, offering plenty of natural beauty.

"As they were building the trail's path they found these gorgeous boulders and they ended up turning those into some of the retaining walls," she said. "The trail kind of wends its way, so it's not straight - it goes through some unusual ecosystems that have been closed to the public in the past. It's a really great trail that ends at the (UM) Campus Farm, which has been taking off for the past year or so."

The trail officially opens to the public with a ribbon-cutting ceremony at 10 a.m. on Saturday near the UM Campus Farm off the south entrance to the botanical gardens on Dixboro Road. The ceremony is free and open to the public.