Iron Belle Trail secures $10.5M in private gifts, seeks more

ANN ARBOR, Mich. (AP) - Hiking and bicycling routes that will traverse Michigan have secured $10.5 million in private donations.

Gov. Rick Snyder on Tuesday shared the fundraising update on the Iron Belle Trail at an Ann Arbor event. He was joined by philanthropists including officials with the Ralph C. Wilson Jr. Foundation, which has pledged roughly $5.5 million for trail design and development in Washtenaw County and Detroit.

A group has been formed to help raise an additional $155 million in private money. The Iron Belle Trail also has received federal, state and local grants, as well as money from a Michigan Department of Transportation-administered program.

Officials estimate the trail is 68 percent completed. The two routes will combine for about 2,000 miles (3,219 kilometers) between Detroit and Ironwood in the western Upper Peninsula.

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