KENT COUNTY, MI – Kent County Parks is preparing to add six miles of accessible mountain biking trails at the 224-acre Johnson Park, located at 2600 Wilson Ave. SW in Walker, a suburb of Grand Rapids. The new trails will wind through the park’s wooded areas and will be designed to accommodate a variety of riders, including those using adaptive bikes for physical or sensory limitations.
The park already features over a dozen attractions, including 1.5 acres of Grand River frontage, a scenic paved multi-use trail, boat launches, fishing spots, two playgrounds, and a sledding hill. Planned improvements will also include new shelters, an updated playground area, and modernized restroom facilities.
Kent County Parks Director, Ben Swayze, believes this project will create the first fully adaptive mountain biking trails in the county. While some existing trails in the area include adaptive features, the Johnson Park trails will be entirely designed for accessibility.
These bike trails will be built in an undeveloped section of Johnson Park, currently only home to a two-mile paved trail. The project, expected to be completed by 2026, is part of a collaboration with Downtown Grand Rapids Inc. (DGRI) and the West Michigan Mountain Bike Alliance.
The $15 million in Kent County American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds allocated for park upgrades will help fund the project. The Michigan Department of Natural Resources (DNR) and DGRI also secured a $55 million federal grant for trail improvements along the Grand River, with $500,000 earmarked for the mountain biking trails at Johnson Park.
Additionally, the parks department has applied for a $400,000 DNR Trust Fund grant, which is awaiting approval from the state Legislature. Swayze expects that the funds will be secured later this summer, allowing work on the restroom and shelters to begin soon after.
Swayze, who became Kent County’s parks director in May 2023, is excited about the variety of offerings across the county’s parks system, which includes both urban and natural spaces. He sees the Johnson Park trails as an integral part of the Grand River Greenway, a multi-county project aimed at connecting pedestrian trails from Grand Rapids to Lake Michigan in Ottawa County.
“Our goal isn’t just to connect point A to point B,” Swayze said. “We want to provide experiences along the way, making it a destination for bikers to enjoy.”