By: Sarah Wright | Troy Times | Published January 13, 2026
TROY — A $1.28 million grant to the city of Troy will pave the way for a mile-long path.
The Southeast Michigan Council of Governments awarded the funding as part of the Transportation Alternatives Program. The money will be used for a mile of 10-foot-wide pathway between Wattles and Long Lake roads.
TAP is a competitive program that distributes about $10 million in federal funds to local transportation projects each fiscal year, like shared-use path and sidewalk modernization, pedestrian safety improvements, new sidewalks, and other amenities increasing usability.
The city of Troy has been interested in providing the community with trails and pathways since the 1970s and began steadily working on such efforts in the early 2000s.
The new trail will start at the mid-block pedestrian crossing on Wattles Road, run to Leonard Elementary School on Tallman Road, then continue north to Eckford Street.
From there, it will pass through two new housing developments and into the Troy Department of Public Works property, before continuing through a third housing development and ending at an existing shared-use path on Long Lake Road.
Where it runs by neighborhoods and the DPW parcel, the path will feature a mix of upgraded sidewalks and new paved paths. On the school property, it will follow and cross the scenic Sturgis Drain.
“This is a transformational grant for us — the fourth phase of this trail project — and it is the first phase that is connected to really major roads and is making our trail system usable on many levels,” said Troy Mayor Ethan Bake, in a statement.
“I am excited to see this work get started, and I’m so thankful to have the federal dollars to come back to the community where a lot of it started from,” Baker said. “Thank you to the federal representatives that worked so hard to get that done. And I, of course, support reauthorization of the transportation bill — it’s an important part of what local governments depend on and use. Thank you again to SEMCOG — we are really grateful for all that you do.”
The project intends to provide a new bicycle and pedestrian route that would help connect nearby neighborhoods with schools, parks and other offerings around town.
“So, it will begin at Wattles where the midblock crossing there is … and it’ll traverse all the way through this whole square mile and end at Long Lake, which will give you the opportunity to either connect all the way over to Jaycee Park with our newly approved hawk signal, (where) you’ll be able to safely cross at Jaycee Park, or you’ll be able to go up Rochester Road to Sylvan Glenn Lake Park,” said Public Works Director Kurt Bovensiep.
A ceremonial check was presented to officials at the Troy City Council meeting Dec. 15, celebrating the latest development in the project.
“First, as a resident of Troy and as the executive director of SEMCOG, it makes us really happy when we hear that there’s a passion for trails across our region,” said Amy O’Leary, executive director of SEMCOG. “Also, (I’m) really excited, personally, for that to be in Troy.”
In a statement, Oakland County Commissioner Gwen Markham (District 15) said she is honored to be part of the Regional Review Committee helping select projects for SEMCOG.
“The committee is bipartisan,” Markham said. “We are all talking about transportation — moving the cars, moving the people through our region. Everybody has the same issues, so politics is not there when we get together.
“One of things we look at is how many people is this going to reach? And how are we connecting with other communities?” she continued. “We try our best to make sure that there are projects throughout the seven-county region.”
For more information, visit troymi.gov.