You can now ride the Pufferbelly Trail from Ice Way to Washington Center Road on finished asphalt. Fort Wayne's 130 miles of trail meet at a single point, an at-grade crossing of Coliseum Boulevard between Mission BBQ and Bob Thomas Ford. The bridge planned for that spot is engineered and almost fully sited. What's holding it up is money. When bids were opened, the lowest one came in about $2.9 million above what local leaders had planned to spend.
For anyone who rides this trail, the north-south link now depends on whether the city can close that funding shortfall.
Both sides of Coliseum are already built
The City of Fort Wayne marked the completion of the "Golden Spike" section on December 3, 2025. The section runs 1.7 miles from Ice Way to Washington Center Road as a 12-foot-wide asphalt trail, and it cost $4.2 million. A Next Level Trails grant from the State of Indiana covered nearly $2.7 million of that. The nonprofit Fort Wayne Trails added $300,000 in donor funds.
This stretch has more amenities than most of the trail. A trail hub rest area, donated by Brian and Kyla Zehr, includes a pavilion and a bike repair station. Nearby are accessible benches and picnic tables, drinking fountains designed for people with disabilities and for dogs, an information kiosk, dog waste stations, and solar-powered bollards. The project also added a new traffic signal at Washington Center Road and Industrial Road. The city says the section connects to nearly 700 businesses, including Glenbrook Square Mall, Glenbrook Commons, SportONE Parkview Fieldhouse, and SportONE Parkview Icehouse.
So the trail is finished right up to both curbs of Coliseum Boulevard. In the same release, the city counted 37,575 vehicles a day on that road and called it one of the busiest roads in Fort Wayne and northeast Indiana.
How the route crosses today
For now, Fort Wayne Trails' route directions from the Ice Way trailhead take trail users across Coliseum at street level. Heading north toward Salomon Farm Park or Huntertown, the route goes like this:
- Follow the Pufferbelly Trail northwest across Lima Road.
- Head north to Coliseum Boulevard and turn east.
- Cross Coliseum at the trail crossing.
- Continue north to Washington Center Road and cross to the north side.
- Go west under I-69 and pick up the Pufferbelly Trail heading north at The Cookie Cottage.
- For Huntertown, keep going north to Gump Road and turn west.
That directions page is dated January 2026. It still says the trail is incomplete from Lima Road to Washington Center Road, but the city finished that segment the month before. The directions still match the route on the ground. Only the "incomplete" note is out of date.
From the same Ice Way trailhead, Fort Wayne Trails lists Glenbrook Mall at 0.6 miles. Franke Park and the Fort Wayne Children's Zoo are 1.05 miles away, Headwaters Park 2.2 miles, and downtown 2.5 miles. To the north, the Salomon Farm Park loop is 4.8 miles away and Huntertown is 9.5. Every one of those northern destinations means crossing Coliseum Boulevard at street level.
Why the bridge hasn't started
The bridge is called the Vann Family Crossing. It will carry the trail over Coliseum Boulevard between Mission BBQ on the south side and the west side of Bob Thomas Ford on the north. According to the city's Engage Fort Wayne project page, engineering is complete, land acquisition is nearly complete, and utility relocations are underway. Bids were opened August 27.
The bids are where the project got stuck. WPTA 21Alive reported on September 24, 2026 that local leaders had projected spending $7 million, while construction bids came in between roughly $9.9 million and $11.2 million. WPTA said the gap had delayed the start of work, which had been expected by September.
| Bridge funding, as of late September 2026 | Amount |
|---|---|
| Vann Family Foundation gift | $5 million |
| Capital Improvement Board approval, contingent | $1 million |
| Projected project cost | $7 million |
| Construction bids received | About $9.9 million to $11.2 million |
| Gap between projection and bids | About $2.9 million to $4.2 million |
Compare that with the trail itself. The 1.7-mile Golden Spike section cost $4.2 million, pavilion and fountains included. Even the lowest bid for the single bridge over Coliseum is more than twice that.
The Capital Improvement Board's $1 million came from a unanimous 7-0 vote of city and county officials. It only kicks in if the project secures enough total funding to go forward. City Public Information Officer John Perlich told WPTA:
"Today marked a positive step. We are seeking additional funding from other sources to help close the gap in order for the project to move forward."
How the finish date has moved
The schedule has slipped twice in less than a year. Each new date, whether in a city document or in WPTA's report of officials' expectations, has been later than the one before.
| Source | Expected construction window |
|---|---|
| City of Fort Wayne release, December 3, 2025 | 2026 through spring 2027, with full trail connection in early 2027 |
| WPTA, September 24, 2026 | Start expected by September, lasting through 2027, now delayed by the cost gap |
| Engage Fort Wayne project page, current | Late 2026 through the end of 2027, with a start expected by the end of the year |
The city still lists an end-of-year start, but that depends on closing the gap first. If outside funding comes through soon, the late-2026 start could hold. If it doesn't, the end-of-2027 finish date may move again. As of WPTA's late-September report, the city was still looking for that additional money.
What the bridge would connect
The city named this section "Golden Spike" for the same reason the bridge matters so much. Once it's finished, it will link 130 miles of existing trails in greater Fort Wayne. On the south side of Coliseum, the trail runs past Franke Park and the Children's Zoo, then follows a spur toward downtown that reaches Science Central, Lawton Park, and Headwaters Park by way of the MLK Jr. Bridge. On the north side, Fort Wayne Trails' directions from the Life Bridge Church trailhead continue to Payton County Park and to Huntertown via Gump Road, and south to the Salomon Farm Park loop.
The trail reaches beyond the county, too. The Pufferbelly Trail is one segment of the 82-mile Poka-Bache Connector, which runs from Pokagon State Park in Angola to Ouabache State Park in Bluffton. At the far north end, Fort Wayne Trails lists a separate half-mile segment from Fitch Road to the DeKalb County line as on hold until DeKalb County settles its alignment. Even with the bridge in place, that northern edge would still be a separate gap waiting on a separate decision.
Places to stop near Ice Way
Many rides that come near Coliseum start or end at the Ice Way trailhead, and Fort Wayne Trails lists three nearby stops with facilities. SportONE Parkview Fieldhouse, 0.1 miles away, has restrooms and water during business hours through the doors on the south side of the building. Trek Bikes Fort Wayne sits right off the trail just south of Fernhill Avenue, 0.25 miles away, and has a public restroom, water refill, and bike repair. 2Toms Brewing Company, 0.45 miles away on Wells Street just south of Fernhill, has an accessible public restroom and water refill. You reach it by following the parking lots behind Sky Zone Trampoline Park.
North of Coliseum, the Golden Spike trail hub near Washington Center Road has accessible drinking fountains and a bike repair station. That gives riders a place to refill and adjust on each side of the crossing.
Fort Wayne Trails' group rides and walks are done for the year. On its calendar, the last Trek the Trails ride of 2026 was September 29, and the last Tread the Trails walk was September 17. Anyone out on the trail this fall and winter will be crossing Coliseum on their own, at street level, until the bridge funding comes together.
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