Miami Valley RailTrails Newsletter April 2005

Miami Valley RailTrails Newsletter
April 2005

It’s April 22 2005. I have news for you about Southwest Ohio's trails and additions to this website. I'm going to make a small change to the format of these newsletters. The first part will be Trail Construction and Improvements. The second part will be Website Changes and Improvements.

Trail Construction and Improvements

Iron Horse Trail gets Funding – The Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) announced in March that Clean Ohio Trails Funds in the amount of $260,000 was awarded to the City of Kettering to partially fund the extension of the Iron Horse Trail in Kettering from the current trails end to State Farm Park.
Three County Trail Gets Funding – Five Rivers MetroParks, Greene County Parks and Recreation and National Trail Parks and Recreation were jointly awarded $500,000 from the Clean Ohio Trails Fund by ODNR. The money will help to purchase the 15.3 miles of right of way from Norfolk Southern Railroad. This corridor extends from Eastwood MetroPark North East through Huffman MetroPark to Enon Road in Enon.
Mad River Recreation Trail Construction - As you know construction to replace the North Findlay Street Bridge over the trail started in January 2005 and will continue for 16 months. Recently I visited the construction site and took photos so that you can see where the detour is. No detour markings are on the trail as yet.
The Tecumseh Trail Gets Funding – New Carlisle in Clark County received funding to build the first two miles of the trail all of which will be in the city limits. The city received $100,000 which will be available 1 July 2005 for engineering planning. Once this process is complete a completed designed trail will be ready for construction companies to bid upon. The city received $626,000 for construction. The money will be available 1 July 2006. I have added a new webpage to the site that shows the route of the new trail.
2005 Clark County Multi-Use Trail Plan Released - Clark County – Springfield Transportation Coordinating Committee (TCC) in cooperation with National Trail Parks and Recreation has completed their plan for multi-use trail construction in the county. The Final Plan is available on the TCC website. Cyclists and other trail enthusiasts are encouraged to download and print the plan which has several color maps.
The Great Connection Construction News - now known as the Great Miami River Recreation Trail [GMRRT] in Warren & Butler Counties
- Crains Run Nature Park to Franklin Section Construction has been delayed on the 3.7 miles of trail to be built from Crains Run MetroPark (since renamed to Crains Run Nature Park - Miami Township Parks) in Montgomery County to Franklin in Butler County. Miami Conservancy District (MCD) is getting ready to send out Requests for Bid for this trail section.
- Franklin to Middletown Section MCD has funding to construct 4 miles of trail from Bicentennial Park in Middletown to Old Route 73. The $420K for this trail section was funded by ODNR Ohio Clean Trails Fund. The plan is that this section will be open by October 2005.
  
  When finished the Great Connection will add 28 miles of multi-use trail and will extend to Hamilton. In 2003 a 2.3 mile trail segment was built in Middletown, Oh.
Website Changes and Improvements
What's New in Miami Valley RailTrails? - All website changes like the ones you will read about below for April 2005 are first placed on the page link above. Every time I make any substantive change to the website like adding a new page or performing a major revision to a page, I add a line and a link to the "What's New?" page. So you don't have to read here what changes have been made to the website. Just click on the Other Links dropdown menu from the Home Page. That way you can see what I have done to the website when you visit.
Iron Horse Trail (revised) - I have taken new photographs of the Iron Horse Trail and rewritten the descriptions of the trail.
New Carlisle Trail (new page) - The trail planned for downtown New Carlisle has been funded. I have added a new webpage that shows the route of this new two mile trail. Construction of this trail will start in July 2006.
Great Miami River Recreation Trail (Miami County) Revision - I have been revising my pages for the trails in Miami County.
- Section 2 - Recently I took pictures of Section 2 of the trail which is being built and will be open 1 July 2005. It connects at its South end to Section 1 which was opened in 2003. See the Miami County Trail Map to understand all the trail construction in Miami County
- Troy Bike Trail (revised) - I also took new pictures of the trails in Troy on the same trip. I've updated the page with new photos and new descriptions of the trails completed in the City of Troy and a description of the new work to be accomplished.
- Mad River Recreation Trail Construction. I added photos to this page to show you the construction at where the Findlay Street Bridge used to be. There are supposed to be detour signs but I didn't see any. The photos will show you how to get around the construction.
Great Miami River Recreation Trail - This trail is in downtown Dayton on the Stillwater and Great Miami Rivers. I've started to revise the original one page into several. There are new pages for:
- Sinclair Park South to Island MetroPark (new pictures and descriptions)
- Island MetroPark South to Stewart Street Bridge (nothing new yet)
- Stewart Street Bridge South to Crains Run Nature Park (Not written yet)
  
  I'm working on this and it will take a while to get new descriptions and pictures to update the page. Please bear with me.
  I'm revising the links so that it is clearer that the Great Miami River Recreation Trail will extend into Miami County to the North and Warren and Butler Counties to the South.
  - To the North the trail is now called:
    - Great Miami River Recreation Trail (Northern Segment) in Montgomery County and
    - Great Miami River Recreation Trail (Miami County)
  - To the South the trail is now called The Great Connection [GMRRT]to Hamilton, Ohio about 27 miles.
  I know this sounds confusing but that is what happens when every county, city and park district calls the trail under their jurisdiction with another trail name. Luckily there are Trail Route Numbers that do not change. For a discussion of Trail Names and Route Numbers see About Bicycle Trail Names and Route Numbers.
Changes in Newsletter Subscriptions. - Several readers did not want to get Passports on my other website at Microsoft.com. So anyone who wants their newsletter sent directly can choose this option.

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. They are wonderful for walking, running, roller-bladeing, birding and cycling and in some cases 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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