Floods, closures and the money

2005 — 2027

A trail built on levees is a trail that floods, and Fort Wayne's managers say so in their own project pages. The Maumee Pathway between Coliseum Boulevard and the Pierson Ditch "is flooded much of the spring every year and sometimes closed for long periods of time," the City's project page states; the trail has also been damaged by riverbank erosion, "and parts of the trail will eventually be lost to erosion." The answer, bid in fall 2026 on the City Utilities wetland project, is retreat: the pathway is being moved farther north onto the former Lakeside Golf Course property, with construction in 2027. Flooding elsewhere in the system is routine rather than exceptional — the City's trail-conditions page, updated daily, carries the standing cautions (mud, silt, downed trees, slippery boardwalks after rain), floodwater has moved scheduled events off their courses — a Trek the Trails night ride was relocated to Johnny Appleseed Park because of flooding, the City's notice records — and construction closures layer on top: Rivergreenway sections at Wells Street and between Clinton and Harrison streets stood closed into late 2026 for riverfront construction, and the Maumee Pathway at Maplecrest Road closed through August 2025 for the Pierson Ditch culvert. The disasters record carries the great floods themselves; this entry carries only their standing tax on the trail system.

The money is a braid of public capital and private fundraising, and one expected strand is missing from the record reached: no dedicated trail tax or levy appears in it. The Rivergreenway was built substantially with State of Indiana and federal Land and Water Conservation Fund money. The modern expansions run on grants and matches — the 2006 INDOT–City $1.5 million for the Towpath; the 2007 federal enhancement award for the Pufferbelly; and, in the 2020s, the State's Next Level Trails program: nearly $2.7 million toward the Pufferbelly's Golden Spike section, $1 million toward the Illinois Road Trail (a $4.4 million project announced in 2023), and the 2023 Poka-Bache grants to Angola and Steuben County. Against the grants, Fort Wayne Trails raises the private share: its 2012 "Countdown to Connectivity" campaign named the network's gaps quadrant by quadrant — the Johnny Appleseed to Shoaff Park trail in the northeast, Six Mile Creek in the southeast, Engle Road and Covington in the southwest, and two Pufferbelly phases in the northwest — and Aboite New Trails' $13 million (above) is the model's largest single total. The organization's sponsorship materials put the cost of the product plainly: trails averaged $1 million a mile to build in its 2024 packet, and "over $1.2 million" a mile in its 2026 packet — one reason, in its telling, that private money matters. Fort Wayne Trails itself states that it receives no government funding.

Sources: City of Fort Wayne, Engage, "Maumee Pathway Realignment: Coliseum Blvd to Pierson Ditch" — "flooded much of the spring every year and sometimes closed for long periods"; erosion damage; relocation onto the former Lakeside Golf Course property; bid fall 2026, construction spring–fall 2027. City of Fort Wayne, Trail Closures, Detours & Updates page (updated 9 Nov 2026) — standing flood/weather cautions; the Wells Street–Ewing Street and Clinton–Harrison Rivergreenway closures for Riverfront Phase IIB; City news release (28 Jul 2025), Maumee Pathway closure to 31 August for the Pierson Ditch culvert. City of Fort Wayne news item — Trek the Trails Night Ride relocated to Johnny Appleseed Park "due to flooding." Eppley Institute, 2017 Indiana Trails Study — Rivergreenway funding, State of Indiana and Land and Water Conservation Fund. Fort Wayne Trails media alert (19 Oct 2012) — the Countdown to Connectivity gap list. Input Fort Wayne (27 Dec 2023) — the $1 million Next Level Trails grant for the Illinois Road Trail, $4.4 million total project cost. Fort Wayne Trails, 2024 Sponsorship Packet — "724,807 trail uses counted in 2022"; "Trails now cost an average of $1 million per mile"; 2026 Sponsorship Packet — "the average cost to build just one mile of trail now exceeding $1.2 million"; Fort Wayne Trails "receives no government funding." The 2006 and 2007 awards are documented in the Towpath and Pufferbelly entries above. No dedicated trail tax or levy was found in the sources reached; the absence is stated, not filled.