FAIRHOPE — The waiting game is over for the Baldwin County Trailblazers. Gov. Bob Riley’s office recently confirmed that the federal transportation enhancement grant the non-profit group filed last September with the Alabama Department of Transportation has been approved. The $674,315 grant is to “provide facilities for bicycle and pedestrian use in Point Clear.”

Twenty percent of the total estimated project cost must be borne by the local governmental sponsor. The Trailblazers wrote the grant but the Baldwin County Commission sponsored the proposal, assuming responsibility for bidding, construction oversight and paying the bills, which will be reimbursed shortly thereafter by ALDOT.

“This grant will fund construction of the one-mile section of trail that follows Scenic 98 from the Grand Hotel’s southern boundary to County Road 32,” said Trailblazer President Terry Redfearn.

The Point Clear section is yet another link in the 32-mile Eastern Shore Trail that stretches from the Battleship USS Alabama on the Mobile Bay Causeway, crosses the bay to Spanish Fort, then follows the coast south through Daphne, Montrose, Fairhope, Point Clear, Mullet Point and beyond to the Weeks Bay National Reserve at Fish River.”

In anticipation of the eventual extension of the trail to Weeks bay, a protected 8-foot-wide bike/pedestrian lane was included on both sides of the newly completed Fish River Bridge.

“Our friend Ronnie Poiroux, division engineer for the Alabama Department of Transportation District 9 office in Mobile is responsible for this,” said Weeks Bay Reserve Foundation Executive Director Walter Ernest.

“This opens the door to future extension of the Trail southward to the network of trails along the Gulf Coast,” Ernest said.

County engineer Cal Markert hopes the new leg of the trail will solve some of the drainage problems in the area. The trail was designed by Wilbur Smith Engineering of Houston, Texas, a firm that specializes in plotting trails in difficult terrains.

Baldwin County Commissioner Ed Bishop said the project had to go through a number of permitting agencies, such as Fish & Wildlife, U.S. Corps of Engineers, Alabama Historic Commission, etc., before construction could begin.

“It takes a while. However, Department of Transportation Director D.J. McInnes has set a time limit of two years from notification of approval to awarding the project to the contractor who files the lowest bid,” Bishop said.

The existing 8-foot-wide sidewalk between County Road 32 and Mullet Point had a stormy beginning with repeated hurricane and flood damage during construction.

“It was a long time coming. We used funds dedicated by (retired) Congressman Sonny Callahan in 1998, but didn’t break ground until 2004,” Point Clear resident Julie Bagwell said.

“There were lots of issues to deal with,” she continued. “Once completed, it’s been well-used and well-loved by year-round residents, summer people, hotel guests and some folks who drive their cars down here to park at Boo Boo’s and go for a walk.”

The mission of the Baldwin County Trailblazers is to enhance the quality of life of all Baldwin Countians by taking a leading role in the planning and development of a countywide network of hiking biking trails connecting community to community, town to country, and people to people.

For more information about membership in the group and ways to become involved, go to wwwthetrailblazers.org or call 621-0454.

Help is available

“This year, as is so often the case, no other Baldwin County entity submitted a grant request for these funds,” said Teko Wiseman. “While it is an incredibly complex and difficult process and consumes the month of August for the grant writers, the Trailblazers are available to help any municiality or organization to write grants,” she said, adding “as our mission statement says, we hope to assist in the ‘planning and development of a countywide system of hiking/biking trails linking community to community, town to country and people to people.’”

Wiseman said the funds are there. City governments and the Baldwin County Commission have the forms. The Trailblazers want to help communities that may think it’s too complicated a process for them to tackle.