Miami Valley RailTrails Newsletter April 2007

Miami Valley RailTrails Newsletter
April 2007

It’s Saturday 15 April 2007. It's time to get out your bicycle (if you haven't already) and tune it up for the bicycling season. Here is the news about trails in the Miami Valley. Please read on.

Trail Construction and Improvements.	Website Changes and Improvements
Photos Wanted Section	Did You Know Department
Announcements of Upcoming Cycling Events

Trail Construction and Improvements

One Way To Two Way Study Continues in Dayton- Research continued on the plan to change some of downtown Dayton’s streets from one way to two way. Why this plan is of interest to cyclists is that some lanes are planned to become bicycle lanes. A public meeting was held 4 April 2007 to reveal the current recommendations of the contractor. A Dayton Daily News article by Ken McCall on 5 April 2007 was titled “Dayton street plan won’t gobble parking spots.” You can read Ken’s column (Click Here). There is a map accompanying the article that shows the proposed bicycle lanes in downtown Dayton that will connect the trails that converge there.
Mountain Biking Trail in Huffman MetroPark Still Under Construction – Five Rivers MetroParks continues to build a mountain bicycling trail in Huffman MetroPark for your use. By reading the recent Dayton Daily News article I found out: 1. That Five Rivers has more work days scheduled. Five Rivers Outdoors has scheduled two work days a month until the trails are finished. The next is this Saturday at 10 a.m. For more information call (937) 277-4374 or visit www.metroparks.org . Once again Ken McCall of the Dayton Daily News is right on the job with a recent article about the trail along with a good map that can give you an idea of the trail’s location. From the map I found out that the entrance to the trail is on Union Road (what Union Schoolhouse Road becomes) not Union Schoolhouse Road as was reported. You can see Ken McCall’s article (Click Here)
Comprehensive Regional-Local Bikeway Plan started in the Miami Valley - A contract was signed recently between MVRPC and Alta Planning and Design and Burgess & Niple two bicycle planning firms. The kick-off meeting was held Tuesday 10 April 10, 2007, at the Miami Conservancy District building on Monument Avenue in downtown Dayton. The contract will allow Montgomery, Greene and Miami Counties to have the contractors develop an inventory of all existing trails in the three county area as well as a data base of all planned and “vision trails” in the area. The result of the contract will be a set of data bases that contains all of the planning data for all three counties trail planning efforts. The contracts will also collect data for trails connecting from other counties.

The contactors will return to the Miami Valley 22 – 24 May 2007 to have public involvement meetings. The times and places of these meetings will be announced. The prime contractor Alta Planning and Design has established a website for data, trail maps and public input. That website is at: http://www.altaplanning.com/mvrpc/ Your input is wanted for this effort. MVRPC is the executive agent for this plan See http://www.mvrpc.org/
“T-Connector bridge and tunnel continues towards completion- The tunnel under State Route 444 at Huffman MetroPark and its accompanying bridge over the Norfolk & Southern RR tracks to connect the planned trail from Huffman MetroPark to Eastwood MetroPark is well underway. The second half of the tunnel was put under the road in the last couple of weeks and on Friday 13, 2007 two large cranes were getting ready to install the bridge sections that were delivered to the site this week.

On Saturday 14 April 2007, I went by the area and there next to the road bridge on Kaufmann Avenue at State Route 444 there was a beautiful new bridge across the Norfolk & Southern RR line. And before someone asks: “When are they going to paint the bike bridge?” The answer is: “They’re not." The bridge is made of a special steel alloy that does not rust and never needs paint. That red color is what it’s “supposed to” look like.

Website Changes and Improvements

Trail Usage Statistics Page Updated - On this page I provide statistics provided to me by the local Parks Departments. The data shows the number of users on each trail. I am also attempting to collect the economic impact of the trails on our communities. I have received data recently and have updated the data for 2006.
Web Statistics Page Updated - Every month I update this page which tells me (and you) how many people are looking at this website. I take a great deal of pride in showing that in 2006, for example, this website exceeded 1 million hits a month in July 2006. This data is one indication of usage that the public is making of my website. Any if I didn't have anyone reading this website I would not be keeping it up to date, to say nothing of expanding. it.

Photos Wanted Department

None this month

Did you Know Department?

Miami County Parks District is Looking for Bicycle Volunteers - Because of the development of more trails in Miami County, the Parks District is interviewing interested persons to become bicycle volunteers. See the Miami County Parks Page for more information (above) and download an application.
London Landmark Changes Names - "HMS Buckley’s" in London is now Matthew’s Restaurant. For several years the restaurant was a lunch place but now under the management of the chef of the former establishment. Matthew’s is planning lunch and dinner entrees. Why not try it when you are in London, Ohio.

Announcements of Upcoming Events

I’ve added several events to my Events Page recently. Take a look and you may be find something of interest to you.
- Bike to Work Week (14 – 18 May 2007

Also See Upcoming Events Page

Regards to all,

Thomas J. Recktenwalt
Webmaster
Miami Valley RailTrails
http://www.miamivalleytrails.org

If you find these newsletters and my Miami Valley RailTrails website of use to you, please pass the information on to your friends and neighbors who might enjoy our wonderful system of multi-use trails in Southwest Ohio. Then they can write me and get on the mailing list to get their own copy of this newsletter. Our trail system is wonderful for walking, running, in-line skating, birding, fishing and cycling and on some trails horseback riding. You see more wildlife from one of our trails than most anyplace else. All of my newsletters are posted to my website at the same time I send you this text version. The URL for your use is: http://www.miamivalleytrails.org/join_our_mailing_list.htm

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