The West Bloomfield Trail is a 6.8-mile-long

rail trail A rail trail or railway walk is a shared-use path on a Right of way#Rail right of way, railway right of way. Rail trails are typically constructed after a railway has been abandoned and the track has been removed but may also share the rail corr ...

Oakland County, Michigan Oakland County is a County (United States), county in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is a principal county of the Detroit metropolitan area, containing the bulk of Detroit's northern suburbs. Its county seat, seat of government is Pontiac, Mic ...

. It links the Michigan Air Line Trail to the west and the Clinton River Trail to the east, and is a segment of the Great Lake to Lake Trail Route 1. From west to east, the trail is within the communities of West Bloomfield Township and

Keego Harbor Keego Harbor is a city in Oakland County in the U.S. state of Michigan. A northern suburb of Detroit, Keego Harbor is located roughly from downtown Detroit, and about southwest of Pontiac. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 2 ...

History

The trail was built on the route of the former

Michigan Air Line Railway The Michigan Air Line Railway was a railroad company in the United States. It was incorporated in 1875 and constructed a line between Richmond, Michigan, and Jackson, Michigan, between 1877 and 1884. It was under the control of the Grand Trunk ...

, which built the

Pontiac Pontiac most often refers to: * Pontiac (Odawa leader) ( – 1769), Native American war chief *Pontiac (automobile), a former General Motors brand Pontiac may also refer to: Places and jurisdictions Canada * Pontiac, Quebec, a municipality ** Apo ...

Jackson Jackson may refer to: Places Australia * Jackson, Queensland, a town in the Maranoa Region * Jackson North, Queensland, a locality in the Maranoa Region * Jackson South, Queensland, a locality in the Maranoa Region * Jackson oil field in Durham, ...

segment in 1884. Ultimately, the railroad came under control of

Grand Trunk Western The Grand Trunk Western Railroad Company was an American subsidiary of the Grand Trunk Railway, later of the Canadian National Railway operating in Michigan, Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio. Since a corporate restructuring in 1971, the railroad ha ...

. They abandoned the line in 1984. The Michigan Natural Resources Trust Fund purchased the right-of-way, and with support from the Rails to Trails Conservancy, West Bloomfield Parks and Recreation Commission purchased the trail in 1988 and developed it.

References

Protected areas of Oakland County, Michigan Rail trails in Michigan {{OaklandCountyMI-geo-stub