Connecting two trails into one – River Trail is taking shape

Rich Palzewic

Staff

October 12, 2026

VILAS COUNTY – Aimed at connecting the 55-mile Heart of Vilas Trail System in St. Germain to the end of the 13-mile Three-Eagle Trail in Eagle River, President of the Great Headwaters Trails Foundation Laura Van Valkenberg said the proposed River Trail Connector is one step closer to reality after receiving a $1.3-million grant from the federal Transportation Alternatives Program from the Wisconsin Department of Transportation.

She said the trail aims to create a safe, paved connector along the Highway 70 corridor.

“It’s very exciting,” she said. “The Town of Cloverland was the sponsoring municipality for the $1.3-million grant application we submitted, which I submitted last October. We just found out about it a little more than a month ago that we received it.”

Though the grant is a substantial amount toward bringing the trail to fruition, Van Valkenberg said it will only cover about 80% of Phase I costs – with the remaining money being raised by the Great Headwaters Trails Foundation.

“The one thing we found out after we got the award from the local coordinator is that the money isn’t actually going to be available for distribution until fiscal year 2030, which means we probably won’t be able to break ground until 2029,” she said. “Having said that, we are still extremely thankful for the grant and what it can do for the project.”

Including all phases, Van Valkenberg said the total cost of the 10-mile project was estimated to be about $12 million.

“Of course, that’s what the cost looked like a few years ago when the initial proposal was made,” she said. “Phase I would follow Old Highway 70 for 1.7 miles and then transition to a new paved off-road trail along ‘new’ Highway 70 for 1.9 miles. Phase I work includes signage along Old Highway 70 and 1.9 miles of new paved off-road trail. Phase I will take the trail approximately 3.6 miles to the east of St. Germain.”

The Great Headwaters Foundation – which was also responsible for building the Conover-Phelps Trail – Van Valkenberg said, will handle engineering design.

“If you’re riding on the Heart of Vilas Trail System in St. Germain and hit the point where the trail ends, you will [eventually] see signs directing you to follow Old Highway 70,” she said. “It’s a very low-use road and safe for biking. Then when it hits new Highway 70, it will become an off-road paved trail.”

Van Valkenberg said both the Heart of Vilas Trail System and Three-Eagle Trail are “absolutely beautiful.”

She said they each offer impressive landscapes and views, with Heart of Vilas Trail System being paved, while Three-Eagle Trail has a hard-packed, crushed limestone surface.

Time is on their side

With trail construction not commencing for at least another three years, Van Valkenberg said it allows all groups to make sure the project is done thoroughly – including planning, design and engineering.

Working with Cloverland on the grant application, she said the town informed her they are looking at resurfacing some of Old Highway 70 in the near future, which is why trail plans might not include an off-road trail for the first 1.7 miles out of St. Germain.

“It might make sense for the town to just do bike lanes on both sides of Old 70,” Van Valkenberg said. “We are working with both towns to figure out what’s going to make the most sense for that Old Highway 70 stretch.”

Additionally, over the last six or seven years, Van Valkenberg said the foundation has worked with engineering students from the University of Wisconsin-Platteville.

As part of their senior capstone project, she said Platteville professors line up real-life projects for students to experience.

“This is the second time we’ve utilized them,” she said. “We asked them how we could best utilize this section to make the best experience for biking. The students came up here and got all the information they needed about the site to understand what Old Highway 70 looks like.”

From there, Van Valkenberg said three proposals were submitted.

“The first proposal was to have the section be an entirely off-road paved trail, as we had originally planned,” she said. “The second option was to utilize the marked bike lanes on each side, and the third option was a combination of the first two proposals. We received the proposal a few months ago and will be sitting down with the towns to show them what the students came up with.”

Though still in the process, Van Valkenberg said she feels the hybrid option makes the most sense.

“Fortunately, we have time,” she said. “Even if it’s five or six years before parts of Old Highway 70 are resurfaced, we’ll have signage up directing people in the meantime because that was included in Phase I costs.”

With the other approximate 6.4 miles of River Trail in future plans, Van Valkenberg said the organization will continue to fundraise and work on securing more grant money.

“Because Old Highway 70 doesn’t go all the way from St. Germain to Eagle River, some of the project for sure has to be an off-road trail,” she said.

Continued maintenance

For many of the communities the foundation has worked with to build trails, Van Valkenberg said one of their biggest concerns is future maintenance costs.

Like any entity that creates a trail, a pickleball court, etc., she said maintenance costs often fall back on the user groups.

“They are all saying, ‘We don’t have the funds to provide for that ongoing maintenance support,’” she said. “For example, when we built the Conover-Phelps Trail, we helped the two communities come up with a plan on how future maintenance would be handled.”

With the current River Trail project, Van Valkenberg said she’s hearing the same concerns.

“Our organization wants to make sure it has the funds to help support these communities,” she said.

Economic impact

With miles upon miles of bike/pedestrian trails in Vilas County, Van Valkenberg said the enormity of the economic impact on the area can’t be ignored.

A recent economic impact study indicated that more than 160,000 cyclists traveled the Heart of Vilas Trail System from May through September of 2025, with 45,000 of those users in August alone.

With 82% of the users from out of town, the study showed that trail users spend $188 per day, generating an estimated $25.7 million in economic activity for the area, including lodging, food and souvenirs.

In a separate study, the Three-Eagle Trail was associated with an estimated $2 million in spending in Eagle River, Three Lakes and the surrounding communities during summer 2025.

For more information on the Great Headwaters Trails Foundation or to donate to the River Trail Connector, visit ghtrails.org.