The Treeline, a proposed three-mile urban trail, has seen significant progress after the Ann Arbor City Council reaffirmed support and authorized new engineering work for it last fall. The trail would tentatively follow the historic Allen Creek beginning at the Border to Border (B2B) trail and Broadway Park West, trace through downtown Ann Arbor along the Watco train tracks and conclude at the new Wolverine Village housing development constructed by the University of Michigan.
Mentioned in city documents going back to 1981, the Treeline was first proposed to City Council as the Allen Creek Gateway in 2005. However, it was quickly rejected, leading to the creation of the Allen Creek Greenway Task Force, which incorporated the trail into its 2009 Downtown Plan. In 2017, the city adopted a Treeline master plan, looking into potential routes and formally outlining the project’s goals, which City Council and the Treeline Conservancy have worked toward implementing following a 2019 agreement.
In an interview with The Michigan Daily, Cynthia VanRenterghem, Treeline Conservancy executive director for development, said the trail could become an essential part of the city’s identity…