AuGRES — Work on a Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) non-motorized vehicle path that takes bikers, skaters and joggers from the AuGres City Campground south across US-23 to Allen Drive has recently wrapped up for the time being.

But AuGres City Manager Pat Killingbeck says the .8-mile path will be extended in the future.

“We want to get it (path) all the way out the mouth of the (AuGres) river,” she said. “Our goal is to complete it to the boat launch.”

According to Killingbeck, $166,000 MDOT project, which the department solely funded, already has AuGres area residents looking for a more complete path.

“People have criticized it, saying it’s a bike path to nowhere,” she said. “But it’s not done yet.”

Although some have been critical of the project, there has been an increase of action.

“I’ve seen more bikes around, to be honest with you,” Killingbeck said, adding that while short, the path is convenient since it’s intertwined with the city’s sidewalk system. “It (path) can connect with everything downtown.”

She also says the bike path, along with the city’s sidewalks, make it safer in AuGres, especially since there are now designated areas in the city campground and on side roads where bikers and others non-motorized vehicle enthusiasts once rode in the middle of automobile traffic.

To add to the aesthetics of the path, Killingbeck says MDOT also did some landscaping around it.

She added that when MDOT builds its planned Bay County to Iosco County line bike path along US-23, that path will also be intertwined with the city’s sidewalks.