ROCHESTER, Mich (WXYZ) — A portion of the Clinton River Trail is now gone and completely washed away after a night of heavy rain.
The city of Rochester is warning trailgoers to stay off the portion of trail between the Letica Drive trailhead and Dequindre Road, and it will likely remain closed for quite a while.
It’s a path hundreds of runners, walkers and bikers travel daily. But when many came for their Tuesday evening ride, they were met with danger signs warning of what's ahead.
“It's pretty important," cyclist Stefan Seelmann of Rochester said. "I ride it every day.”
“It's a pretty important trail. So when it’s out, it’s going to affect a lot of people,” another cyclist Bob Krupp from Rochester said. “It's like a gateway to all the rail trails around here.”
About a 30- to 40-foot section of the trail, once solid land, is now completely gone. The crushed limestone trail was crumbling at the edges with about a 10-foot drop below as water still emptied out of the bordering retention pond.
Cyclists like Bill English had to see the damage themselves.
“Just shocked at how much damage this water has done,” English said. "We use this trail a lot.”
Rochester’s Director of Public Works Alek Mizikar says the investigation into how this occurred will begin Wednesday morning. He says the trail is a huge draw for the city and fixing it could take time and be costly.
“There weren’t any indications something like this was going to happen that we’re aware of,” Mizikar said. "We've got to figure out funding, get with our engineering team. There’s going to be more to it than just putting dirt back and trail on top of it.”
Some riders including English were concerned about wildlife.
“The most important thing for us is the herons who are nesting up here and use it as a food source," English said.
While the total impact of the damage remains unclear, what is clear is that this popular trail will likely be closed for quite some time.
"To see this much removal of Earth, I don't think this will be repaired anytime soon,” English said.
