The Northville Riverwalk

One Pathway to Connect Them All

There are multiple sections of the Riverwalk Project that are still in the planning stage, but the construction of the first section is underway. From Mill Race Historical Village, the Rouge River flows past Ford Field East Park. The plans are to beautify this area along with the river walkway to create a more central park for Northville, including an amphitheater.

From there, it will continue onto South Main Park, where the old well, a symbol of Northville, still remains. The old Jaycees Park was cleaned up to reveal the river and waterfall with plans to construct a bridge to span the river.

The city is working in tandem with the county to get King Street straightened and put in a light for a walkway crossing. The pathway will follow the river to a new development called The Foundry with nine acres of green space right on the river that will include a walkway.

Another section of the Riverwalk will require daylighting the Rouge River. During the Swamp Act, in order to dry out towns and cities, the government allowed rivers to be redirected underground. Currently, the river runs through a 100-year-old tunnel covered by a cement culvert.

Restoring it to its original condition is necessary and will be the most difficult, time-consuming and expensive part of the project. “It hasn’t slowed us down on the other sections,” said Turnbull, “but you can see that it’s a key section. You can’t have a full riverwalk without the river.”

Opening up the river is not only important to the Riverwalk project, but all of metro Detroit. With the creation of a bioswale of grasses, flowers and shrubs on both sides of the waterways, flooding will be reduced for all southeast Michigan.

“Everything in the Detroit area—people don’t realize this— is downriver from Northville, Michigan.” Therefore, the rivers of Northville need to be managed well to increase absorption.

With a strategic plan in place, Northville expects to finally realize their vision of a full Riverwalk by the town’s bicentennial in 2027, including the path networks that connect from Legacy Park to the fish hatchery to Maybury State Park. “As you can imagine, this is the future for our kids and grandchildren,” said Turnbull.