Miami Valley RailTrails Newsletter July 2008

Miami Valley RailTrails Newsletter
July 2008

It’s Wednesday 16 July 2008 and it's hot! I hope you have gotten onto the trails riding, some of the trails you have not ridden before. Here is the news about trails in the Miami Valley. Please read on.

Trail Construction and Improvements.	Website Changes and Improvements
Photos & Information Wanted Section	Did You Know Department
Announcements of Upcoming Cycling Events	Webpage of the Month

Trail Construction and Improvements

Great Miami River Recreation Trail (Construction) – As all of you who have tried to ride the Great Miami River Recreation Trail in downtown Dayton know, the trail is broken in several places. On 21 June 2008 Ken McCall of the Dayton Daily News wrote about the problem. You can see his article on the DDN site titled “3 bridge projects to halt recreational traffic, too “
On 11 July 2008, Mr. McCall wrote another article on the topic, “Roadwork means rough road for Cyclists.” In it he quoted me:

"The problems have created frustration among cyclists. Tom Recktenwalt, Webmaster for "miamivalleytrails.org', the most complete Web site on the region's trails, is somewhat exasperated. "Basically, I've been telling people, don't bother to try to ride your bike through downtown Dayton," he said. "You can't do it, because they've mucked it up for the next 18 months or so."

The trail is broken downtown by the construction of the Monument Street Bridge and as of last week the Stewart Street Bridge demolition and construction. The trail is also closed in two places by the ODOT construction on I-75. The trail is closed just South of the Helena Street Bridge (Island Metro Park) on both sides of the trail and North of Triangle Park on the new, not even opened trail segment, (East of Keowee Street) that runs to Taylorsville MetroPark. The trail is closed in a fifth place South of downtown near Rice Field.

And if that isn’t enough the Wolf Creek Recreation Trail in downtown Dayton, which is called the Paul Lawrence Dunbar Connector, is closed until December 2008 by the replacement of the Dunbar bridge across the trail. (Dunbar Street).

If I total it up correctly (and I did), that’s six breaks in the trails in downtown Dayton and all at the Same Time! GRRRRRR!

For more information on these trail closures please see the Miami Conservancy’s District’s “Plan A Ride” website . I have zoomed in on the downtown area. You can see the “Orange Cones” that I have (selected) highlighted and read what MCD wants to tell you about the construction in downtown Dayton.

It is ironic that this is happening now when under the leadership of the Miami Valley Regional Planning Commission, the City of Dayton and its surrounding suburbs are starting the planning to become what is called “Bike Friendly Communities”. This is a designation that is awarded to a city by the League of American Cyclists, when they integrate bicycle planning into transportation planning and make serious efforts to provide more bicycling and walking routes for their citizens. It would seem that with five current breaks in the trail (four caused by construction, one by trail erosion), that the City of Dayton has its work cut out for it in achieving any form of award by the “League”.

I have added more information to all of my webpages for the Great Miami River Recreation Trail.

Website Changes and Improvements

Great Miami River Recreation Trail – I have updated all my detours on all of the pages that show that the trail is broken by bridge or road construction as follows:
- Triangle MetroPark North to Taylorsville MetroPark - This new section of trail that finally connects downtown Dayton to Taylorsville MetroPark has been broken by the I-75 construction before it had a chance to be dedicated.
- Island MetroPark South to Stewart Street Bridge – This trail section is broken in three places.
  - South of Helena Street Bridge - Just South of the Helena Street Bridge I-75 crosses the Great Miami River East to West. Because of the construction the trail is closed on both sides of the river.
  - Monument Street Bridge – This Bridge is being replaced and the trail is broken. There is a detour on my webpage. I don’t know if there are detour signs on the trail.
  - Stewart Street Bridge – This Bridge is being replaced. The trail on the West side of the river is closed. It is possible to get around the construction (just) on the East side of the Bridge.
- Great Miami River Recreation Trail South of downtown – Just South of Rice Field near Miamisburg the trail has been eroded by the river and there is a detour. Hopefully it will be completed by the Summer of 2008.
- Wolf Creek Recreation Trail in downtown Dayton – (AKA Paul Lawrence Dunbar Connector). This trail is closed at Dunbar Street for the replacement of the Paul Lawrence Dunbar Bridge.
Web Statistics Page Updated – I added data for the first six months of 2008 from Goggle Analytics to show activity on the website.
Xenia-Jamestown Connector page updated – I rode the new 4.3 mile section of the trail from Jamestown East to the Fayette County line recently and I’ve updated the webpage with new photos and descriptions. This trail is now 12 miles long from Jasper Road (Southeast of Xenia) to the Fayette County line. In 2011, Greene County Parks will build the remaining 4.5 miles of trail West from Jasper Road under US-35 (via a 400' tunnel), alongside Home Road and to Xenia Station. This construction will include a new bicycle bridge across S. Detroit Street to carry the Xenia-Jamestown Connector and the Prairie Grass Trail (AKA Ohio To Erie Trail) to Xenia Station.
Ohio Bicycle Law Page Updated –I have highlighted the changes to the law on the page. The Ohio Bicycle Law is connected to the Trail Etiquette & Safety page where I tell you the "Rules of the Road" as regards to cyclists. You can download a MS Word copy of the Ohio Bicycle Laws on that page.

Photos & Information Wanted Department

None this month.

Did you Know Department?

Miami-2-Miami Trail (More) - Last month under "Trails Not Yet Built" I told you that a portion of the Miami-2-Miami Trail had been built in Butler County. Recently I was contacted by a group in Pisgah, Ohio (Westchester Township) that is planning for a trail to connect to the Miami-2-Miami. The interesting thing is that they did a web search, and the only source of the planning documents for the trail was Miami Valley RailTrails. I was happy to provide file copies of the preliminary study conducted in 2002.
Trail Volunteers Wanted for the Little Miami Scenic Park - (Repeat from June 2008) As many of you know, some cyclists volunteer their time to be a "Trail Volunteer" or "Trail Sentinel" in the counties they live in. Five Rivers MetroParks (Montgomery County) and Greene County Parks have had volunteer programs for some years. Clark County is working towards developing a similar program and Miami County Parks is working on the idea. I am a volunteer for Greene County Parks.

I have been encouraging these efforts for some years. I have talked to county parks departments who have trails but no volunteer program to suggest that they consider starting a program to have citizens help patrol the trails. One of the agencies whom I have talked to is The Ohio Department of Natural Resources who mange the Little Miami Scenic Park (LMSP). This park encompasses approximately 50 miles of the Little Miami Scenic Trial from Hedges Road in Greene County South to Terrace Park Ohio. Recently I was contacted by them. They said: "We are currently working on forming a core volunteer group for the LMSP. If you know of interested individuals, please have them contact me.” The name and address to volunteer for this new group is:
Mr. Alan Ferguson
Park Manager
Ohio State Parks
Cowan Lake Region
513-897-3055
Alan.Ferguson@dnr.state.oh.us

So if you'd like to volunteer to help patrol the 50 mile Little Miami Scenic Park, call or email Mr. Ferguson directly. I encourage you to think about volunteering for this very worthwhile effort.

Announcements of Upcoming Events

See Upcoming Events Area

Webpage of the Month

Website Statistics Page - Above, I told you that I have updated this page with new Goggle Statistics data for the first six months of 2008. Why I am nominating the page as July's "Webpage of the Month" is this. I have provided the statistics for the top ten pages for Jan - June 2008. What is interesting is that the Little Miami Scenic Trail is the top page for this website. Folks. We have a lot of nice trails in the area. You all don't have to view, read and ride the Little Miami Scenic Trail exclusively. As I said above, I rode and photographed the Xenia-Jamestown Connector this week and it was delightful! It was shady, not crowded and fun to ride. So I recommend to all of you that you ride some trail in the area that you have never ridden before.

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 Miami Valley Trails System, the 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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