Miami Valley RailTrails Newsletter June 2008

Miami Valley RailTrails Newsletter
June 2008

It’s Monday 16 June 2008. 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

Xenia-Jamestown Connector Extended- I am informed that the additional 4.3 miles of trail from Jamestown East to the Fayette County line has been finished by Greene County Parks. The trail is now 12 miles long West from the Fayette County line to Jasper Road. This trail is not completed to Xenia Station. The trail will be finished to Xenia Station in 2010 or 2011.
Great Miami River Recreation Trail (Northern Segment) - Construction is completed under I-70 Bridge at Taylorsville MetroPark One of my “spies” told me that construction was complete in Huber Heights on the Great Miami River Recreation Trail (Northern Segment). The trail was cut where it went under the I-70 Bridge and the Great Miami River for about two years. The trail is now open. (See below) for connectivity from Taylorsville MetroPark to downtown Dayton at Triangle MetroPark.
Great Miami River Recreation Trail (GMRRT) from Triangle MetroPark to Taylorsville MetroPark – This new trail can be ridden now but will not be completed for a couple of weeks. Final landscaping and signage need to be installed. The trail is now 14.5 miles long from Triangle MetroPark in downtown Dayton to the Northern end of Taylorsville MetroPark at Old Springfield Road (Miami County border). Eventually, this trail will connect with the trail being built North into Miami County to connect to Tipp City, Troy, Piqua and Sidney in Shelby County.

Unfortunately, this almost completed trail is already broken by construction on I-75 in downtown Dayton. - Where the trail goes under I-75 just North of Keowee Street (AKA North Dixie Drive) the trail is impassible. A reader from Huber Heights who was overjoyed to be able to ride his bicycle down a trail to work in downtown Dayton told me about the problem. His detour is as follows (Please see Yahoo Maps Image). If you are riding South from Huber Heights get off you bike just before the I-75 Bridge and take it up the embankment to Susannah Ave. Ride North to Neva Drive and turn left (South). Ride down Neva Drive under the I-75 Bridge to Hiawatha Drive. Turn left (South). Ride three blocks to the South side of the I-75 Bridge and walk your bike down the embankment to the trail. I am told there is a planned detour but I have no information about when it will be available. But it will include two ramps in the same area to facilitate riding up to the surface streets and it will use Neva Drive to get under I-75.

The Yahoo Map above shows you I-75 crossing the Great Miami River with Susannah Ave to the East, Neva Drive running parallel to the river about three blocks North and Hiawatha Drive just West of I-75. This is your detour until a better one is constructed.

Great Miami River Recreation Trail (Miami County) – Section 5 – This section of trail starts at Peterson Road and runs South to the City of Troy. The Engineering Drawings will be completed by July 2008 by ADR (the contractor). They will be sent to ODOT for a construction start in 2009.

Great Miami River Recreation Trail (Miami County) – Section 3 – This section will connect Tip City at the Nature Center to Section 1 that runs North along Dye Mill Road to connect with Section 2 that runs alongside the Great Miami River and connects with the trail in Troy. Construction for Section 3 should be complete by the end of 2008.
More Trail Miles For Your Use - With the completion of new trail from Triangle MetroPark to Taylorsville MetroPark (see above), the total number of miles of connected trails increases from 206 to 221. I keep track of the total miles of trail in the Miami Valley, which currently is 314 miles and the total miles of connected trail which is now 221 miles. Since the Xenia-Jamestown extension does not connect to Xenia Station and the trails system, the addition of 4.3 miles of trail does not increase the number of connected miles of trail only the total. And until the trail in Taylorsville MetroPark was connected to what I have begun to call "The Miami Valley Trails System" , I could not add those trail miles to the connected table that I have on the page link above or Click Here.
Trails Not Yet Built – Here I will tell you about trails that are planned within the Miami Valley that are not yet built. Why I want to tell you about them is that some of them have webpages on my site (which you will not find via my Home Page), and I have things to tell you about trails that won’t be built until 2010 or 2011. They are Approved Bicycle Projects (all trails funded but not yet built). To find their webpages go to my Site Map (Table of Contents page)
- Tecumseh Trail (New Carlisle) – This two mile trail in downtown New Carlisle if planned for construction in 2009.
- I-675 Pedestrian/Cyclist Bridge (Beavercreek) – This bridge will connect the city of Beavercreek just North of the Fairfield Mall with Wright State University and the Wright Brothers Bikeway that is just off campus across Kaufmann Avenue. It is planned for construction in 2012.
- Miami-2-Miami Trail (Butler & Warren counties) – This is an ambitious plan to connect the Great Miami River Recreation Trail at Hamilton East across Fairfield, Liberty, West Chester and Deerfield Townships to connect with the Little Miami Scenic Trail where it connects to the Lebanon Countryside Trail and the old railroad bridge across the Little Miami Scenic River. A small portion of this trail has been constructed West of Port Union on the old Miami-Erie Canal in Butler County. I do not have data for completion dates of any of the rest of this trail that is being built by multiple juristic ions.
- Wolf Creek Recreation Trail (Montgomery County) – This construction is to close the gap between the two existing segments of trail. The first starts where the Wolf Creek empties into the Great Miami River in downtown Dayton, (also known as the Paul Lawrence Dunbar Connector) and ends at Wesleyan MetroPark. The second part, after about a four mile gap, starts in Trotwood and continues 13 miles through Brookville to Verona. Plans have been made to connect the two pieces in 2010.
- Xenia-Jamestown Connector (Greene County) – Greene County Parks extended this trail East from Jamestown to the Fayette County line in June 2008. The remaining 4.5 miles of trail is East from Jasper Road under U.S.-35 via a 400’ tunnel, along and behind Home Road to the Xenia Station. A new bicycle bridge will be build across South Detroit Street to carry both this trail and the Prairie Grass Trail (AKA Ohio To Erie Trail) across the street to The Station. Plans are to build the trail and bridge in 2010.
- Union City Gateway (Darke County, Ohio to Randolph County Indiana) – This trail is only one mile long but it is very significant since it crosses the Ohio-Indiana line. It is planned to be completed September 2008. It will be the border crossing for the trail that is being planned to run West from Piqua through Bradford, Covington and Greenville to Indiana and the Cardinal Greenway.
- Iron Horse Trail – Connecting Beavercreek, Kettering & Centerville – The contract for the Centerville portion of the trail, just under two miles from Hempstead Station Road South to Iron Horse Park went on contract 5/18/08. The City of Centerville, who is managing the construction plans to have the trail completed by November 2008. Once the City of Kettering acquires the right of way they need, another 3.5 miles of trail will be built North from Hempstead Station Road to the existing 5.4 mile trail that ends at State Farm Park in Kettering and connects to the Creekside Trail in Beavercreek.

Website Changes and Improvements

Updated Webpages - I have updated all of the webpages mentioned above with new completion dates and latest information about them. In the past two weeks I have talked to the parks directors of Butler, Darke, Preble and Marion counties as well as others to keep you up to date with trail construction and repair in the area.
Updated Maps in Navigate By Maps – Since we have built some more trails this year and will be building some more I have replaced dotted green lines on some of the maps with solid green lines, showing completed trails. I have also updated the links to show you the trail page associated with that portion of the map.
Updated Trails Map Page – I have added a link to a hobbyist who is building a Goggle Map of all the trails in the Miami Valley area. The map is open for public collaboration. You might want to help the author; J.D. Mackiewicz. Click Here to see the maps (or above)

Photos & Information Wanted Department

None this month.

Did you Know Department?

Trail Volunteers Wanted for the Little Miami Scenic Park - 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

Greene Trails Cycling Classic - This wonderful family event will start and end at the Greene County Fairgrounds in Xenia, Ohio. See their website for more information.
Troy Classic Bicycle Races (19 July 2008 Troy) - Join the fun in Troy! For the third year the Troy Classic Bicycle Races gets bigger and better, Over $10K in prizes to the winners of many races by skill and age level. In 2007 there were over 260 racers entered. Racers came to Troy from several states to ride. All ages can participate in a race.
Tour d'Burg - ( 20 July 2008) - The excitement of the Tour de France returns to historic downtown Miamisburg. The 4th Annual TOUR d’BURG, sponsored by Kettering Medical Center – Sycamore, will feature top criterium riders competing in United States Cycling Federation USA Cycling sanctioned “crit” races on a one-mile circuit featuring
Five Rivers MetroParks "Bike For the Health Of It" - Rides with a volunteer ( All Summer)
Greene County Parks "Greenway Getaways" - Rides with a volunteer (All Summer)

Webpage of the Month

Table Of Contents Page (Also Known As) Site Map - I have recommended this page for your reading pleasure before. I am "touting" it again this month because I told you about webpages that are on my website but cannot be reached via the Home Page's drop down menus. Since many of these trails are not yet completed, I feel that the Home Page's menus would be "cluttered up" with information about trails you can't ride yet. Go and take a look at the page. I have all of the trails plus many other pages such as the "Navigate by Menu or Maps Page" There you can select to use the page to find trails by County and down the page to see all of the connected trails in the Miami Valley or click on the link to see the set of five maps of the Miami Valley I have for your use.

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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