Nelson Family Heritage Crossing

Construction Progress
The Nelson Family Heritage Crossing began construction in August of 2020. The project is finished and opened in June 2021.

What is the Nelson Family Heritage Crossing?
The Nelson Family Heritage Crossing is a 1,100 foot bicycle and pedestrian connection between Heesakker Park in the Village of Little Chute and an expanded rail trail in the City of Kaukauna. The Nelson Family Heritage Crossing will cost approximately $3.5 million. The municipalities have received over $2.7 million in grants and private donations towards this project. 



How does this benefit the Village of Little Chute?
Parks and trails encourage physical activity (walking, biking, dog-walking, and running to name a few). More than 60% of Fox Cities area residents are overweight or obese. This project will be part of reducing that percentage. Bicycle and pedestrian trail amenities attract people and spending to our area. An estimated $535 million dollars was spent by out-of-state bicycle tourists in the state of Wisconsin in 2016. Proximity to parks and trails make neighborhoods more desirable places to live and increase property values. 




Current Trail Attendance
The Heesakker Bridge, Heritage Parkway Trail, and Mill Street Bridge have been heavily utilized since 2012. We have a trail counter located on the Heesakker Bridge. The statistics from that tracker are listed below. The average attendace per year that cross the bridge is 24,566. It is a very popular trail system for the Village of Little Chute.
Heesakker Bridge Attendance Statistics