From Ft. Wayne Parks :
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.
Disclaimer: All project trails listed on TrailLink.com are in various phases of development and may not be open for public use. Rails-to-Trails Conservancy does not manage any trails listed on TrailLink.com. To learn more about the current status of trail development, please look in the "Related Links" section below to find contact information for the local organization or agency responsible for trail management.