By Mayor Zach Vruwink

One of the blessings of the Wisconsin Rapids area is its bounty of natural resources, ideally suited for a wide range of recreational activities. Now, with a few clicks of their fingertips, residents in our community have an opportunity to help determine how to enhance bicycling and walking amenities both here and throughout the 10-county north central Wisconsin region.

The North Central Wisconsin Regional Bicycle and Pedestrian Plan offers an interactive mapping activity that allows participants to provide input on a map about bicycling and walking in the north central Wisconsin region.

You can log in with an email address or anonymously. Route markers allow you to pinpoint routes you like to ride or walk, where you think improvements are needed, or where you would like a path to be created. Point markers allow you to highlight destinations, conflict points and areas where bike parking is needed. Using your email address at login enables you to return to the map and edit your input at a later time, or receive project updates.

Your contributions to this plan can also help the Wisconsin Rapids community prioritize funding, and obtain grants for bicycling and walking improvements.

In addition to Wood County, the North Central Wisconsin Regional Bicycle and Pedestrian Plan takes in Adams, Forest, Juneau, Langlade, Lincoln, Marathon, Portage, Oneida and Vilas counties.

I encourage our citizens to take advantage of this unique way to map our City’s future.