When will closures finish on East Bank Trail in South Bend? Plus wild, fishy news

Joseph Dits, South Bend Tribune
·3 min read

By now, we thought that Indiana Michigan Power would have been done with last year's work along the East Bank Trail in South Bend, part of which it closed off to install a new transmission line. But that's taking longer. And now there's another, separate trail closure.

Here are updates from the city of South Bend, plus news about Easter eggs, stewardship, anglers and women in the wilderness.

Barricades close off a portion of the East Bank Trail in South Bend, as seen in March 2022.
Barricades close off a portion of the East Bank Trail in South Bend, as seen in March 2022.

East Bank Trail

• I&M continues to work on the new transmission line on the trail between North Shore Drive and Crescent Avenue (just south of the dog park), though it now forecasts finishing and reopening that section by the second week of May.

• Also, to the north of that, the city reports that the trail’s bridge over Leeper Avenue will remain closed at least through the summer. A contractor’s large truck crashed into the bridge last October, causing what the city calls “significant damage.” An engineering design is expected to finish up late this spring. Then bids will be taken, and repairs could begin in late summer.

As a way to get around the closed sections, there are steps from the trail to the sidewalk along Indiana 933 just northwest of the highway. You can follow that sidewalk south to downtown and North Shore Drive.

November 2021: Trails grow as one closes: Coal Line, East Bank, Pumpkinvine and Erie

Egg hunt, family festivities

Dr. T.K. Lawless County Park, 15122 Monkey Run St., Vandalia, will host its “Spring Egg-stravaganza” egg hunt and family festivities from noon to 2 p.m. April 9. The cost, per person, is $2 or one can of food, which will be donated to a local food pantry.

Thousands of soft candy-filled eggs will be hidden through the fields. The hunt for ages 2-4 will begin at approximately 12:30 p.m., while ages 5-10 will hunt at about 1:30 p.m. There also will be an inflatable slide, face painting, crafts, wagon rides and a bonfire. And the Easter Bunny will be there for photo opportunities.

Indiana forum on stewardship

The nonprofit Indiana Parks Alliance will host its second annual free, virtual forum at 10 a.m. April 9 with a panel of speakers focused on the following theme: “Stewardship of and Engagement in Indiana State Parks and Natural Areas.”

The speakers will be Terry Coleman, director of Indiana State Parks; Steven Wolter, executive director of the Eppley Institute for Parks & Public Lands; Stephanie Schuck, executive director of Indiana’s Cooperative Invasives Management; Scott Namestnik of North Liberty, who is the state botanist for Indiana’s Division of Nature Preserves; Chris Smith, deputy director for the management team; and Tom Hohman, president of the Indiana Parks Alliance.

Registration is required to attend the free forum via Zoom. For details, visit indianaparksalliance.org.

Anglers’ input

On the week of April 11, the Indiana Department of Natural Resources will email a survey to anyone who bought a state fishing license and has an email address. It will include a broad range of questions to help develop fishing programs. Follow a link in this story online for a website with details.

Women's Wilderness Weekend

April 10 is the deadline to register for the Women’s Wilderness Weekend, which will be April 22-24 at Patoka Lake in the southern Indiana town of Birdseye, near Louisville.

The Indiana Department of Natural Resources is providing this weekend where women will camp in the modern electric campground and learn skills such as archery, kayaking, fishing, Dutch oven cooking, wild edibles, wilderness first aid, rifle and trap shooting, operating a boat and self-defense. All Saturday meals will be provided.

Cost is $65 per person. Register by calling the Patoka Lake Nature Center at 812-685-2447 or emailing naturalist Dana Reckelhoff at dreckelhoff@dnr.IN.gov.

The main column: Goshen app tunes into sensory nature trails while minding disabilities

Follow Outdoor Adventures columnist Joseph Dits on Facebook at SBTOutdoorAdventures. Contact him at 574-235-6158 or jdits@sbtinfo.com.

This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: South Bend East Bank Trail closures will finish