Towpath and Eagle Marsh Trails

The 5.5 mile Towpath trail that runs from Rockhill Park to Lutheran Hospital will be completed in 2010. Currently, trail users can enjoy a 4 mile stretch from Rockhill Park to Engle Road.  A map of the Towpath trail  is now available. Once construction of the Towpath Trail is complete in late 2010, trail users will have access to Eagle Marsh Nature Preserve. Download a map of the trails within Eagle Marsh: Eagle Marsh Trails  

Update on Trail from Lawton to Franke

(Pufferbelly Trail)

In November of 2007, the City of Fort Wayne received a federal Transportation Enhancement award of $967,167 to help fund the construction of a 2.6 mile trail extension of the Rivergreenway from Lawton Park to Fernhill Avenue with a trail spur to Franke Park and the Fort Wayne Children's Zoo. The 12 foot wide asphalt trail will be constructed on the former Fort Wayne, Jackson & Saginaw (later called the New York Central) railroad corridor from Fourth Street to Fernhill Avenue. The trail spur to Franke Park and the Children's Zoo will be ten feet wide and will run along the south side of Franke Park Drive from the railroad corridor. The future trail is called the Pufferbelly Trail. The name is derived from the historic nickname for a steam locomotive, which is "pufferbelly."

The ultimate goal of the new trail is to provide for more connectivity in northwest Fort Wayne, as well as to offer Fort Wayne residents a safe, alternative transportation route for bicyclists and pedestrians. The Pufferbelly Trail will provide connections to five northwest neighborhoods, Centlivre Apartments, the Children's Zoo, Franke Park, Vesey Park, Franke Park Elementary School, Science Central, Imagine MASTer Academy and Northside High School. In addition, the residents in the five neighborhoods and Centlivre Apartments along the Pufferbelly Trail will be connected to the 23-mile Rivergreenway network. The Pufferbelly Trail is one segment of a State Visionary Trail that will ultimately be 80-miles long, running from Pokagon State Park in Angola to Ouabache Sate Park in Bluffton. The total cost of the trail project is estimated at $1,450,000. Trail construction should begin in 2012. A map of the Lawton to Franke (Pufferbelly map) proposed trail is now available.

The full 13-mile trail (Pufferbelly Trail Brochure) will start at the northern edge of Allen County and it will terminate in downtown Fort Wayne.

Learn more about planned trails!  Are you curious about the location of future trails and how they’ll connect to our existing Fort Wayne Trails Network?  Here’s a map of the proposed trails throughout Fort Wayne (as of 10/09).