Miami Valley RailTrails Newsletter March 2007

Miami Valley RailTrails Newsletter
March 2007

It’s Thursday 16 March 2007 and it seemed for a couple of days this week that Spring was here. Here is the news about trails in the Miami Valley. Please read on.

Trail Construction and Improvements.	Website Changes and Improvements
Photos Wanted Section	Did You Know Department
Announcements of Upcoming Cycling Events

Trail Construction and Improvements

Bikeway Bridge Proposed in Greene County – The City of Beavercreek has proposed building a $2.8M multi-use bridge over I-675 from the Fairfield Mall area to near the Holiday Inn in the strip mall North of I-675. This would provide foot and bicycle access by WSU students, staff and faculty to the Fairfield Mall area and South into Beavercreek. This trail development has the backing of the Greene County Commissioners but there is no funding for this project as yet. The link above is to Yahoo Maps. If you click there or here you'll see an image of the Mall at Fairfield Commons. Just North of I-675 the Holiday Inn is indicated. The trail will cross I-675 at that point.
Construction in Troy (Miami County) - This year the City of Troy plans to build a trail from North Market Street along the levee to Riverside Drive. This will take the current route off of the sidewalk at the top of the levee. The construction is approximately 1 mile in length.
New Trails Planned in Clark County - The Clark County Transportation Coordinating Committee (TCC) and National Trail Parks and Recreation (Clark County) are planning some new trail segments for your use as follows:
- Little Miami Scenic Trail Extension – This is planned to close part of the gap between the end of the Little Miami Scenic Trail (that ends at I-70 South of Springfield) to the trail that leads North to the Heritage Center in downtown Springfield where the LMST connects to the Simon Kenton Trail. Planned construction is in 2010. The construction is from Fair Street South to West John Street and from Johnny Lytle Avenue to W. Leffels Lane. Construction from W. Leffels Lane South to I-70 is not currently a part of this project.
- The Tecumseh Trail - Build a 2 mile trail in the city of New Carlisle from New Carlisle Elementary School to SR-235 at Wat-A-Dog. Planned construction is in 2009.
- Simon Kenton Trail Spur – From the existing trail to the newly planned “Splash Zone.” I understand the spur will be South of the existing spur to the Eagle City Soccer Complex. Planned construction is 2007.
- Simon Kenton Trail Spur - Another spur with parking is planned to connect the trail North of the Buck Creek East to the National Trail Parks & Recreation Offices. Planned construction date is 2010.
"Improving the trail system vital for region" - That was the title of the Dayton Daily News article by writer Mr. Ken McCall. The Miami Valley Regional Planning Commission signed a contract recently for a company to perform an analysis and inventory of the existing and potential trails in Montgomery, Miami and Greene Counties. The study will focus on how to get trail users to the existing trails and suggest new connecting trails to what I have previously called; the "Miami Valley Trail System." Click on the link above to read Ken McCall's complete column that was published Friday March 16, 2007.
New Bridge Construction over the Paul Laurence Dunbar Connector – Construction will begin 1 July 2007 to replace this bridge over the Wolf Creek Recreation Trail in downtown Dayton. The work on this $2.5 Million dollar project is scheduled to be complete in December 2008. At this point I don’t know if a alternate route will be available for trail users.
Stewart Street Bridge on Great Miami River Recreation Trail to be Replaced – News is that this bridge over the trail South of downtown Dayton will be replaced at a cost of $15M. Work will start in June 2008. I have no details of any planned detour for this bridge..

Website Changes and Improvements

Trails in Ohio List Updated – I continue to update my lists of trails in Ohio. Periodically, I go through the list to try to find if a trail that I have listed, but have no link to, has a website. I also check on the existing links to see if the website link is valid. Each trail is represented twice: First on the alphabetical list of trails and second on the Trails by Section and County (to make it easier for my readers to find trails that they are interested in.)

Little Miami Scenic Trail (LMST) named part of Underground Railroad Bicycle Route

Adventure Cycling Magazine recently designated the a portion of the LMST and the Prairie Grass Trail as a part of their Underground Railroad Bicycle Route (URBR). The URBR is one of the primary routes that escaped slaves used to get from the South to either the Northern part of the US or to escape to Canada. Adventure Cycling is designating a number of scenic routes in the US to foster bicycling. Last year they mapped out a route from Mobile Bay, Alabama North following the old escape route North to Kentucky. The escaped slaves continued North along the Little Miami RR (now the route of the LMST) to Xenia, then turned East towards Columbus, Cleveland, Erie, and Buffalo, ending at Owen Sound, Ontario.
.
At right you can see me (Tom R.) and Mr. Jock Harris of Central State University, posing at Xenia Station.

Photo: Dennis Coello
Click on photo for larger image

Last Fall, photojournalist Mr. Dennis Coello, took photographs along the entire route. Adventure Cycling contacted me last Fall to ask me for assistance in locating some models for Mr. Coello. The first of two articles about the URBR appeared in the Nov/Dec issue of Adventure Cycling Magazine. The first article followed the route from Alabama to Kentucky. The second article, which will appear this Summer, continues the route from Kentucky through Ohio, Pennsylvania and on into New York and Ontario, Canada.

It is possible that one (or more) of the photos from that photo shoot, taken in the Xenia area of myself, Mr. Chuck Smith of the Ohio Bicycle Federation, and Mr. Jock Harris a senior in Mathematics Education at Central State University may appear in the article.

This is a photo of Chuck Smith of the Ohio Bicycling Federation crossing the bridge across the Little Miami River North of Xenia.

Recently maps of the entire route have become available from Adventure Cycling . You can see the page (and order maps if you are interested) at their website. On March 10, 2007, an article about the Underground Railroad Bicycle Route appeared on USA TODAY Online. The article included one of Dennis Coello's photos of Chuck Smith (taken from the back).

Photos Wanted Department

None this month

Did you Know Department?

The Corwin Peddler Is Re-opening! – Yes! That wonderful ice cream shop in Corwin is under new management. They are completely redecorating and plan to be open weekends starting late April 2007, depending on the completion of construction. And they are going to be selling Young’s Jersey Dairy Ice Cream again! More details follow as I get them. I’ll have a link to their new website when it is completed.
Some webpages on this website are hidden? – Yes. It’s true. From the drop down menus on the home page of my website all of the completed trails and much more are readily available for your use. However – Trails in planning are not available from the home page. To see webpages that I have built please see the Site Map (far right drop down menu on home page). Also the Site Map page will show you all of the connectivity between trails. Check it out!

Announcements of Upcoming Events

I’ve added several events to my Events Page recently. Take a look and you may be find something of interest to you.
- Greene Trails Cycling Classic 19-22 July 2007 (See events page)
- Marching Miles for Miracle Kids 1– 19 April 2007 - I have added a link to "Marching Miles for Miracle Kids" to the events page. The credit unions in the area will be marching to raise funds for your local children's hospital. It's a worthwhile fundraiser. Why not think about "Marching Miles" to help this fund raiser that starts 1 April 2007.
- Tour d’Burg 22 July 2007- (See events page)
- 4th Annual London Strawberry Festival Bicycle Tour on Saturday, June 23, 2007. - (See events page)

Also See Upcoming Events Page

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 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

Return to Join Our Mailing List

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