Miami Valley RailTrails Newsletter June 2006

Miami Valley RailTrails Newsletter
June 2006

It’s 20 June 2006 and Summer started today. I hope you are enjoying our wonderful trail system. I have news 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

Construction on Great Miami River Recreation Trail in West Carrollton - The Great Miami River Recreation Trail in West Carrollton will be closed for construction from June 12 - July 10 between Marina Drive and Alex Road for reconstruction. The trail will be completely rebuilt in this section to eliminate the large cracks through the pavement. This is a popular section that gets heavy use and trail users will not be a happy group. We are not posting a detour, but the obvious route is south on Dixie Drive to right on Alex where users can get back on the trail at the stairs up to the levee top. - Source Miami Conservancy District

A possible detour is to stay on the sidewalk from Marina Drive South to North Alex Road. Turn right on Alex Road and follow that to the levee. Use the bike-stairs up the levee slope to rejoin the trail.

Please Note: This detour is recommended for experienced cyclists only. Children alone or families with small children are advised to avoid this section of trail until the work is complete. The construction will begin 12 June and take about 45 days.
Washington Street Bridge Replacement - The Great Miami River Recreation Trail runs through downtown Dayton. From June 2006 and running to December 2007 construction will take place to remove and replace the Washington Street Bridge that crosses the trail. Because of the bridge construction there will be a detour for each side of the trail.
Darke County Parks Starts Trail Development - The Darke County Parks District has embarked on development of multi-use trails in the county. The first project that the District will concentrate on is developing a 7 mile trail East from Greenville to the town of Bradford. This trail tentatively called “The Greenville Connector” will ultimately connect to the Great Miami River Recreation Trail (Miami County) at the City of Piqua. Mr. Roger Van Frank Director of Darke County Parks District said recently: “I am hoping to have receipt of the 7 miles of right-of way in the next 60 days from Vectren, Panhandle and DP&L.” Darke County will be working jointly with the Miami County Bikeway Task Force chaired by Mr. Robert Shook.
Trail Development in Miami County Continues – As you know the Great Miami River Recreation Trail (Miami County) is being developed in stages to take the trail from Taylorsville MetroPark on the Northern boundary of Montgomery County North to Tipp City, Troy, Piqua and eventually to North of Sidney in Shelby County. The Miami County Bikeway Task Force is working with every government along the right-of-way to not only build the main trail but to also develop “feeder trails” to the cities and towns along the main North – South right of way. To learn more about the status of each of the 10 planned sections of the main trail please see my webpage that explains the status of All Trail Sections in Miami County.
- There are three named trails in Piqua;
  - Piqua Activities Trail For Health the
  - Hydraulic Canal Trail and the
  - Rivers Edge Section.
- The Troy Trail in Troy connects to,
  - Section 2 of the Great Miami River Recreation Trail (Miami County) which connects South to:
  - Section 1 of the Great Miami River Recreation Trail (Miami County)
- Tipp City Trail exists. Connections need to be made North (Section 3) to Section 1 and South (Section 4) to Taylorsville MetroPark. This construction is planned to start July 2007.
"T- Connector" in Greene County to soon be on contract - The "T-Connector" is the connection between the trail that is being developed to run from Eastwood MetroPark to Huffman MetroPark in Montgomery County, then run along the Wright Brothers Bikeway in Greene County through Fairborn and finally extend to Enon in Clark County. This trail is currently known as the Three Counties Trail . I am informed that the construction of a tunnel and bridge from Huffman MetroPark to the Wright Brothers Memorial will go on contract this Summer. Construction will continue to 2008 and the estimated cost of this 1,600 foot vital link in our trail system is $2 million.

Website Changes and Improvements

Errors on Miami Valley RailTrails Website - As you know I am now maintaining a website that tracks 19 named trails in the Miami Valley that consist of over 266 miles of trail. Some of these trails have more than 10 webpages dedicated to them; the Little Miami Scenic Trail is an example of one. I have over 170 webpages and about 3,000 photos. When I add copy and photos to the website the information is correct at the time I post it. But, I cannot monitor every mile of trail and every picture all of the time. That is where you come in. I have had several public spirited persons point out over time, where I have made mistakes on the website. Or more importantly, where I have had correct data but that the information has changed over time and now needs revision. If all of you would look at my website with a view towards helping me keep the data up to date I would be most appreciative.

I would like to publicly thank several of “Tom’s Spies” who have provided information and photos of trails to help me keep the website up to date. I have probably missed someone. So if you have contributed and don't see your name here, please write me. I get a lot of great help from my readers so it's sometimes difficult to keep track of all of them

Name of Contributor	Trail Pictures Contributed
Mr. Mike Mueller	Loveland to Milford on LMST
" "	Milford to Lunken Airport on on LMST
Mr. David Dumbacher	Milford to Lunken Airport on on LMST
" "	Lebanon Countryside Trail
Mr. Frank Allen	Lebanon Countryside Trail
Mr. Aldo Ross	Lebanon Countryside Trail
Mr. David Appleby	Morrow to Loveland Section on LMST
Mr. Dan Carrigan	Ellis Park Spur on LMST
Mr. William Helfirch	Simon Kenton Trail
In many cases the photos that these gentlemen provided have been replaced by newer photographs sometimes taken by myself and sometimes by another of "Tom's Spies" as I call them.

I will be adding in the future a “Pictures Wanted” to my newsletter in the future. In it I’ll tell you on what part of which trail I need a photo or two and a good description. I’ll give the person who photos I choose full photo credit for their work.

Updates to Creekside Trail and Creekside Recreation Trail - I recently revised these webpages by adding new photos, new links to local restaurants and new text to keep the content current and up to date. I think you'll like the new material. I also revised the order in which the trail review is shown. Now both trails are reviewed from East to West. I think you'll like the change.
Milford to Avoca Trail segment Dedicated - On 10 June at the Little Miami Golf Center, the newest section of the Little Miami Scenic Trail was dedicated. That makes this most beautiful trail in Southwest Ohio about 76 miles from Springfield in Clark County almost all of the way South to Cincinnati! Plans are to continue to build South to the Lunken Airport East of Cincinnati. Then the Ohio River Trail (in planning) will take riders to the Ohio River and then to downtown Cincinnati to cross into Newport Kentucky via the Purple People Bridge (the old L&N railroad bridge across the Ohio River). I was supposed to have updated the Milford to Lunken Airport webpage by now, but “things happened.” One of my “faithful spies” is planning to photograph the trail this weekend and I’ll have new pictures up in a week or so.
266.0 miles of trail in the Southwest Region of Ohio - I updated my RailTrails page on the website again last week. I added the new 3.8 miles for the trail South of Middletown on the Great Miami River Recreation Trail; then I added .25 miles for the Ellis Park Spur near Yellow Springs off of the Little Miami Scenic Trail and finally I added the additional 4.4 miles of trail from Milford South to the Little Miami Golf Center on the Little Miami Scenic Trail (see below for dedication information). At the top of this article you can see the link to Trail List which is my list of trails by County and the mileage for each. On that page I also keep the total of miles for trails in this area. Isn't it wonderful - more new trails to ride!

Did You Know Department

Nothing new this month

Announcements of Upcoming Cycling Events
(Also See Events Page )

Road Racing in Troy - The Troy Classic will be held on the streets of downtown Troy 22 July 2006.

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 the 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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For more information on each Web Page or Trail click on its name.