Since June, the slower drive on Red Arrow Highway between Stevensville and the Cook Nuclear Plant has come from one county project with two parts. Berrien County cut the road from four lanes to three. The space left over is going to a 10-foot paved path that will run from Haymarket Brewery & Taproom in Bridgman to Peat's Cider Social at the edge of Stevensville. The path is being built where the fourth lane used to be.
The paving is finished. The Berrien County Road Department expected the path to be done around mid-November, weather permitting.
Where the fourth lane went
The county's construction notice covered drainage repairs, resurfacing, and the four-to-three-lane change from the DC Cook Nuclear Plant traffic signal to the Village of Stevensville limits. It also covered building a non-motorized trail from Bridgman's city limits to Stevensville's village limits. The county's June 4 project presentation gives the measurements:
- Roadway: three 11-foot asphalt lanes with 3-foot asphalt shoulders
- Path: 4.28 miles of shared-use asphalt, 10 feet wide
- Side of the road: west, on a path bed graded in 2025 when the Bridgman-to-Cook section was rebuilt
- Projected safety effect: a 19% to 47% drop in crashes, the range the presentation gives for this kind of lane reduction
Friends of Berrien County Trails explains the tradeoff. Dropping one lane opened enough room in the county road right-of-way to fit a multi-use trail, and the road department designed the trail and the road rebuild together. At the project briefing in June, WSJM reported that the county engineer described the separate path as a way to get cyclists off a road with small shoulders and keep them out of close contact with vehicles. Before this project, anyone biking between Bridgman and Stevensville rode on that narrow shoulder next to four lanes of traffic. The new layout puts the cars on three lanes and gives the bikes their own paved strip.
In early October, Mark Heyliger, managing director of the Berrien County Road Department, told 97.5 The Lake that every travel lane was open and the whole road surface was paved:
"You'll still see cones in the area to ensure the safety of the construction workers that are still working on pieces of the project. However, traffic is moving, moving very smoothly and the entire road surface has been paved. So people should notice a big difference."
He told the station that the road had been in rough shape and that the county has no more Red Arrow work planned for next year. The county's own schedule had road work, striping, and permanent signs finished by September 1. The rest of the path work and site restoration was scheduled for September 2 through November 15. Those last cones mark the path work, not the road.
Who paid for the road, and who paid for the path
The presentation puts the total projected cost at $4,553,097.19 and splits the funding by purpose. The roadway is funded 50% by the Michigan Transportation Fund, 37% by TwinCATS federal STBG money, and 13% by the DC Cook Nuclear Plant. The plant's signal marks the southern end of the project. The path has its own split. An MDOT Transportation Alternatives Program grant covers 80%, and the Michigan Transportation Fund covers the remaining 20%. No local trail millage appears in that breakdown.
The work after construction stays local. Berrien County will own the new section, and Lake and Lincoln Townships are responsible for maintaining it. In 2024, WSJM reported that Lincoln Township trustees agreed to take on trail maintenance after the county said local maintenance was required for the grant. The 80% grant came with a condition that the township had to commit to first.
Two taprooms as trailheads
The path doesn't end at a park or a public lot. Each end is a business. Friends of Berrien County Trails says the project includes designated trailhead parking at Haymarket Brewery and at Peat's Cider Social, and each will have a sign and three bike racks. A bike repair station is planned at Peat's. Haymarket Brewery & Taproom is at 9301 Red Arrow Highway in Bridgman. Peat's Cider Social is at 6201 Red Arrow Highway in Stevensville.
The two are open on different days. Here are the hours each one currently lists:
| Day | Haymarket, Bridgman | Peat's, Stevensville |
|---|---|---|
| Monday | 4–9 p.m. | 4–9 p.m. |
| Tuesday | 4–9 p.m. | Closed |
| Wednesday | Closed | 4–9 p.m. |
| Thursday | 4–9 p.m. | 4–9 p.m. |
| Friday | Noon–9 p.m. | 4–10 p.m. |
| Saturday | Noon–9 p.m. | Noon–10 p.m. |
| Sunday | Noon–9 p.m. | Noon–7 p.m. |
On weekdays, both open at 4 p.m. at the earliest, so a ride with a stop at each end is a weekend outing. Saturday and Sunday are the only days both places open by noon. Saturday has the longest stretch when both are open, from noon until Haymarket closes at 9. On Sunday, that stretch runs from noon until Peat's closes at 7. Seasonal hours can change, so check with each business before you plan a ride around them.
The cider taproom is inside a retro bowling alley. Open lanes are first-come, first-served and rented by the hour. Peat's also invites people to email about joining or starting a casual league. There is no full kitchen, and the staff can advise on bringing outside food. Owners Dan and Leah Peat opened it in March 2020 with partners Josh and Tiffany Cosner. Its listing on St. Joe Today shows three dated events between the path's expected finish and the end of the year:
- Friday, November 20: Pitbull theme night, 4–10 p.m.
- Saturday, December 5: Bowl with Santa, noon–3 p.m.
- Friday, December 18: Holiday PJ Party, 4–10 p.m.
Bowl with Santa falls on the same weekend as St. Joseph's Merry & Bright, which runs December 4 through 6. That weekend opens with the Lake Bluff Park tree lighting on Friday at 6:30 p.m. and includes the Reindog Parade downtown on Saturday at 3 p.m. Bowl with Santa ends at 3 p.m. that Saturday, the same time the parade starts.
Four miles in a 17.5-mile plan
The new segment fills one gap in a longer route. Friends of Berrien County Trails counts 9.5 miles of the Red Arrow Trail as built. Another 4 miles are in this project, and 4 more are proposed, for 17.5 miles in all. The built mileage covers about 8 miles from US-12 just north of New Buffalo to Sawyer Road in Chikaming Township, with trailheads and restrooms in Union Pier and at Chikaming Township's Community Park. It also includes a 1.5-mile section along Red Arrow Highway from I-94 north of Stevensville to Glenlord Road.
The Haymarket-to-Peat's section ends just south of Stevensville, and the Glenlord Road section starts north of I-94. The remaining gaps are in Stevensville and Lincoln Township. Future plans include extending the trail north from Sawyer toward Warren Dunes State Park and through Bridgman. The long-term plan is to close the gaps from Sawyer Road to Bridgman and through Stevensville to Shoreham, where the Red Arrow Trail would connect to the Lakeshore Trail. Both trails belong to the Lakeshore Route, which the trails group describes as a continuous Lake Michigan trail from the Indiana line to Ludington. Heyliger told 97.5 The Lake that riders will eventually be able to bike from Stevensville to New Buffalo and beyond. Until those gaps close, the new path will take a rider from Stevensville to Haymarket, about four miles south, and no farther.
The Red Arrow corridor is part of daily life for us, too. If you'd like to talk through how projects like this new path affect the homes along it, Wortman Group is glad to sit down with you. Request a private consultation and valuation, and we'll bring what we know about Stevensville and Lincoln Township to the conversation.