Miami Valley RailTrails Newsletter January 2006

Miami Valley RailTrails Newsletter
January 2006

It’s 15 January 2006. The weather has been unseasonably warn in January 2006. I have new information for you about the trails in the Miami Valley. Please read on.

Trail Construction and Improvements.

Website Changes and Improvements

Did You Know Department

Announcements of Upcoming Cycling Events

Trail Construction and Improvements

New Carlisle to Park Layne Trail Plans Continue - The Clark County Trails development group is continuing to plan for a 3.7 mile North to South trail from the end of the The Tecumseh Trail at the Wat-A-Dog restaurant in South New Carlisle. The trail will follow SR-235 on its East side to end at Raynor Park in Park Layne Manor. Plans call for the submission of two requests for funds this year. $250K will be requested from the Ohio Department of Natural Resource’s (ODNR) Clear Ohio Trails Fund. The remaining $1.0 M will be requested from Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality Improvement Program (CMAQ) which is sponsored by the Transportation Coordinating Committee (TCC). If funding is awarded during December 2006 trail design can occur in 2007 with trail construction in 2009. The trail could be open as soon as the year 2010.

More Funding Requests for Xenia-Jamestown Connector – As you know this trail ends at Jasper Road about 3.5 miles Southeast of Xenia Station. The City of Xenia submitted a request for $2 M in CMAQ funds to MVRPC. This money will build the 400’ tunnel under US-35. Xenia will know if their grant request will be funded in May 2006. Greene County Parks submitted a $475K Clean Ohio Trail funds request to ODNR. These monies will build the trail from Jasper Road Northwest to the new tunnel and then from the North end of the tunnel to Washington Street. Greene County Parks also requested $500K from the Dayton Public Policy Coalition which will be used carry the trail from Washington Street to Hill Street and to build the bridge over South Detroit Street. This bridge will connect both the Xenia-Jamestown Connector as well as the Prairie Grass Trail to Xenia Station. If funding is secured the Xenia-Jamestown Connector could be a reality by 2008 or 2009.

Website Changes and Improvements

Updated web pages for overnight parking at Staging Areas - In a recent meeting in Clark County we talked about the trail Staging Areas where you could leave your car overnight. (See Did You Know) below. I have updated pages from the Little Miami Scenic Trail and the Simon Kenton Trail in Clark County with the information you need to have to call National Parks and Recreation District in Clark County before you park overnight. I also contacted Greene, Montgomery, Madison and Warren Counties with the following result:

1. Greene County has no trail signs but if you’d like to stay overnight in one of their staging areas please call 937-562-7440.
2. Five Rivers MetroParks (Montgomery County) neither has signs or policy at this time. They’ll get back to me.
3. Warren County – The trail in Warren County is under the jurisdiction of the Little Miami Scenic Park. The parking areas in the park close at 11 PM. They have no signs but would liked to be called at 513-897-3055.
4. Madison County – They have no policy or signs at this time. They will take it up with the County Commissioners .

I pointed out to several of the counties that if they have no signs posted how do the cyclists know what the policy is and what number to call? Several of them are taking my suggestions under advisement.
New Web Page for Three Counties Trail - I have added a new webpage to the site for the Three Counties Trail that is in planning. The name is a nominal one until construction starts. I got more information on the trail’s route at my Clark County trails meeting and have already updated the page with the new information. I will update that page as information develops and tell you both here and on the What’s New? Page (On Home Page: Other Links > What is New on Website)
New Sitemap Page – I had decided some time ago to build a better Site Map page for your use. The one I had was automatically built by the website software I use to build Miami Valley RailTrails. But it was inadequate for the current website. The new Sitemap can be reached from the bottom of every page. The new sitemap shows every trail and every section of that trail as well as what trails connect to it. I also show all of the important pages on the website.
Fix to Search Tool Accomplished – Recently I noticed that when I searched for a term on the website, the search tool did not return information that I knew was on the website. I have taken steps to correct this problem. The search tool now works as advertised.
Older web pages removed from site. I had some very old (circa 1997) pages that included reviews of trails not in the Miami Valley RailTrails area of Ohio. I have removed these pages as not appropriate to the current focus of the website; that is, to tell you about trails in Southwest Ohio. I also have some pages provided by Mr. Glenn Oster of Pittsburg who has visited the Miami Valley on occasion and written gone reviews of our trails which I published. Glenn has also ridden extensively in other countries and I have also published those trail reviews.

Did You Know Department

Parking Overnight at a Trail Staging Area – Did you know that it is illegal in Clark County to park overnight at a Staging Area without permission? Well. It is. If you are planning to ride overnight and leave your car at one of the four staging areas in Clark County under the jurisdiction of the National Parks and Recreation District (Clark County) you’ll have to call937-328-7275.to tell the county the details of your stay. They’ll put a form on your car so that it won’t we towed away while your riding our trails.
The three locations where you can park your car and leave it are:
1. Little Miami Scenic Trail – Beatty Station
2. Simon Kenton Trail - Villa Road at Home Road
3. Simon Kenton Trail - Eagle City Soccer Field - West of trail at trail spur. Eagle City Road at US-68
To get permission to park call 937-328-7275.
Pedalopolis Group meets at Young’s Jersey Dairy - Recently on a Saturday morning I meet some of the regular posters of the Pedalopolis website . I mention the website in my March 2005 newsletter. I read it routinely for the experiences of the members who ride our trails year round. You can also find news of the condition of the trails in their Trail Watch section. I was invited to meet some of them for breakfast at Young’s Jersey Dairy at 8AM YST (Yellow Springs Time). I can’t reveal the real names of the posters I met but their screen names are: “Steveko”, “Oldshacker” and “danc”. :Steveko” provided a turn-by-turn description of the route on trail segments and streets to get from the Northern end of the Little Miami Scenic Trail that ends at Interstate 70 to the Heritage Center in downtown Springfield. I was able to learn a lot from them. I recommend the website to you for information purposes.
Little Miami Scenic Trail Longest Paved Trail in US? – I was contacted by American Trails . They had on their website that the longest paved trail in the United States was the William Munger State Trail in Minnesota. The person who wrote me was contacted by someone conversant with the Little Miami Scenic Trail and my website who said in effect: “I believe the Little Miami Scenic Trail is longer. See this website (mine) for information." American Trails wrote me and asked if the information they received was correct. I sent back information that indeed the Little Miami Scenic Trail at 69.8, 72.0 or 68.4 miles was longer than the Munger Trail. There seems to be some confusion over the actual length of the trail. I also told them that the Little Miami Scenic Trail was being extended North to Springfield as an off-road trail several miles and South from Milford to Lunken Airport 8.8 miles. You can see their page with the article on the Longest Paved Trail in the US.

Announcements of Upcoming Cycling Events
(Also See Events Page )

None this month.

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, 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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