A Saturday ribbon cutting in Waterford Township celebrates the end of a 25-year plan to create a two-mile trail. The last few steps have one construction crew racing to finish.

Brad Greff, director of operations for Anglin Civil, an engineering firm, said they started installing the boardwalk in late November to the new 100-foot-long concrete pedestrian bridge over the wetlands finished in May. The 450-foot boardwalk to the bridge is just east of Crescent Lake Road near the Tubbs Road intersection.

The recent heat wave threatened slowed construction for Anglin employees, he said.

“We’ve been struggling with this heat. I’ve been pushing them as much as I can without killin’ ‘em,” he said. The composite deck material is less dense than wood and heats up quickly making construction more difficult, he said. After one of workers felt woozy during Monday’s extreme heat, he relaxed rules about hardhats and vests.

“We’re not by a road. We’re not by overhead wires,” he said Wednesday. “Monday, the heat coming off that deck felt like 130 degrees.”

He expected the construction to be done by Thursday “and we’ll be cleaning up like mad on Friday.”

The township and county are installing nine trees and four bushes along the path.

Township officials credit former clerk Sue Camilleri as the Riverwalk’s driving force.

She said the Riverwalk started with plans for the Waterford Towne Center, which some residents call the Kroger Plaza. At the time, Dick Cartmill, the township’s parks and recreation director, and the township’s planner, Larry Lockwood, suggested developers add a walking path alongside the Clinton River on the west side of the shopping center. Over time, the path expanded, going under M59, to help people walking, running or bicycling travel safely from one side of the highway to the other.

“That’s how it started,” said Camilleri, who volunteered to champion the Riverwalk when she retired.

Lockwood died in March, 2024.

“The township kept adding to it a little bit at a time as money became available over 25 years,” Camilleri said. “When we got the American Rescue Plan Act money, the board of trustees decided to use $2 million to complete it.”

Some of that ARPA money has been set aside to maintain the trail, she said. The total cost of the project is unclear, as it progressed incrementally and as money was available, she said.

Today, the Riverwalk travels from Riverside Elementary, 5280 Farm Road, under M59 and northwest to the Drayton Plains Nature Center, 2125 Denby Drive. The nature center is nestled in a large neighborhood. Camilieri said the Riverwalk is one way to connect more people in the township — not just to one another, but to restaurants, grocery stores and other amenities.

The Detroit Institute of Arts is providing part of its Inside Out collection for the path — with the theme “Blowin’ in the Wind on the Riverwalk”

During Saturday’s celebration, Jim Powers of Powers of Rock will play the most-popular music from the last 25 years. Camilleri said in addition to speakers, including Bartolotta, there will be cardio drumming and short speeches by representatives of America in Bloom/CN Railways, Detroit Institute of Arts, township, county and state officials. She’ll present a short history of the Riverwalk.

Waterford Township’s grand opening for the Riverwalk is 11 a.m. Saturday, June 28 at Community of Christ Church, 1990 Crescent Lake Road in Waterford.