Miami Valley RailTrails Newsletter April 2010

Miami Valley RailTrails Newsletter
April 2010

Dear Friends: It’s Thursday 15 April 2010. I have some trail news for you. Please read on for news of the Miami Valley.

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

News from Clark County - The City of New Carlisle has the Tecumseh Trail Phase I open for use. Below is the status of the remaining two phases now in planning. Also National Trail Parks and Recreation is working with the City of Springfield to finish the Little Miami Scenic Trail to Heritage Center in downtown Springfield. Finally Clark County is adopting the standard bike trails signs that other counties are already using. Please Read On.
- Tecumseh Trail Phase 1 - (City of New Carlisle from Lake Avenue to the Wot-A-Dog) Continues Construction – The contractor is planning to finish the trail Spring 2010. The trail is open. I took new pictures of the trail and updated the webpage 9 April, 2010. Clark County is planning a Big Grand Opening Celebration for later this Summer.
- Tecumseh Trail Phase 2 - (New Carlisle from Wot-A-Dog to the Tecumseh YMCA) - This trail segment will run South from the Wot-A-Dog alongside the East side of State Route 235 to the former Tecumseh YMCA outside Park Layne. This segment is close to beginning design. There was a 15 April public meeting to discuss Phase II planning of the trail at Park Layne Elementary School.
- Tecumseh Trail Phase 3 - (Bethel Twp/Clark County Study) – This study is to see what trail alternatives there are to continuing the trail in Bethel Township. The draft plan is available for reading on the TCC website.
- Little Miami Scenic Trail North of I-70 – As many of you know the formal Little Miami Scenic Trail ends North of Yellow Spring at I-70. After that, the trail follows North on S. Yellow Springs Street and makes a right turn onto W. Johns Street. From there the trail is on streets and off-street until it gets to its eventual end in downtown Springfield at the Heritage Center.
  Recently a stranger to the area was met by a Greater Springfield Friends of the Trail The visitor was impressed that the trail was neither dangerous nor covered with broken glass as some cyclists have believed. The Transportation Coordinating Committee (TCC) that funds roads and trails in Clark County is working with the City of Springfield to make the trail North of I-70 a completely off-road trail all of the way to downtown Springfield. There are three segments of trail of about 2-3 miles on streets that will be replaced by a formal trail. Construction should start in 2014 and $550K is earmarked for the work.
- New Trail Signs in Clark County – The Miami Conservancy District (MCD) secured funds at $90K a year, for two years, to design and build standard trail signs for Montgomery, Miami and Greene counties. Last year Clark County asked MCD for the designs for the signs. They were able to secure some $20K and will accept delivery of the first 25 of 50 signs this Summer. Soon you’ll see standard signs on the Buck Creek, Simon Kenton and Little Miami Scenic Trails in Clark County. In addition, the Friends of Madison County Parks and Trails and the Little Miami Scenic Park have expressed interest in the common signs design. It is hoped that all of the organizations that manage trails in the Miami Valley will decide to adopt the MCD standard sign system.
News From Miami County - As many of you know the trail from Montgomery County at Taylorsville MetroPark that runs North through Miami County to Piqua is near completion. Within two years the remaining open sections should be completed as follows:
- Lytle Road to Eldean Road Construction – Miami County Parks Department got a $250K grant from the Duke Foundation to help build this trail section. They have asked for an additional $250K from the Ohio Recreation Trails Fund. If funding is received, construction should start in 2010. The Parks Department plans to use historic 1913 pony truss bridge to cross over the Beedle Ditch which is a part of the route. See a Dayton Daily News article on the bridge by Clicking Here.
- Eldean Road to Peterson Road – Phase 1 of the trail built a 1.99 mile section of trail on the West bank of the river, from Eldean Road to 600’ North of the I-75 Intersection with CR-25A.
  - East side of Great Miami River - This .5 mile section will run North from 600’ North of I-75/CR-25A intersection. A bicycle bridge will be built across the Great Miami River to the “Caldwell Property”. The trail will then run alongside the river to cross Peterson Road and connect to the trail to Piqua. Construction will include a small parking lot on the South Side of Peterson Road on the “Caldwell Property”. This construction is planned to start in 2011.
  - Completion of trail to Piqua from Peterson Road- There is a stream running across the end of the trail just before it gets to Peterson Road. Miami County Parks Department plans to finish the 30 foot of trail this year (2010).
- Thomas Kyle Park (Tipp City) South to Taylorsville MetroPark – Miami County Parks is hoping to start construction in July 2010 and complete the trail, which includes a tunnel under Ross Road by Summer 2011.

News From Montgomery County

Stewart Street Bikeway Re-Opens – I was in downtown Dayton last month and noticed that the University of Dayton had completed re-construction of Stewart Street to the campus. As a part of the work on the campus, the Stewart Street Bikeway was destroyed. I had on my webpage for the trail an estimate that it would be rebuilt by December 2009. It seems that they may have met that estimate along with the opening of the new Stewart Street Bridge.

As an added fact you may not know the University of Dayton reported the following:

"By 2010, the University of Dayton will have a path suitable for walking or bicycling from the campus on Brown Street, down the Stewart Street Bikeway across the bridge and South on Edwin C. Moses Blvd. to the University of Dayton Arena and the other sports venues there."

News From Hamilton County
- Great Miami River Recreation Trail to be extended in Hamilton – Inch by inch, bike trails linking up (Click to read article)
  This article appeared on the Cincinnati Enquirer Online website on 21 March 2010. To summarize:
  Great Miami River Recreation Trail (Hamilton) – This section will start construction next year (2011) and may be complete in three years to the Rentschler Nature Preserve. The Hamilton Community Foundation will, “…provide whatever money is needed to finish the extension.” This section of the Great Miami River Recreation Trail has been 10 years in the planning, The trail is also planned to continue North to connect with the existing trail in Franklin at Oxford State Hwy (OH-73)
- Queen City-South Mill Creek Greenway Trail - The Mill Creek Greenway Trail will physically transform the Mill Creek corridor and watershed, located in the geographic heart of Cincinnati and Hamilton County. Click on link for more information about this development.
News from Northern Kentucky - I thought I would put this in to show you that once the Ohio River Trail is connected from Lunken Airport at the end of the Little Miami Scenic Trail to downtown Cincinnati at the "Purple People Bridge" that there may be a trail on the Kentucky side of the Ohio River to ride to.
- Licking River Greenway and Trails - "Licking River Greenway and Trails is an ambitious Northern Kentucky effort to create an urban greenway from the mouth of the Licking River to the I-275 loop. Ideally the trails system will seek to connect neighborhoods and businesses on both sides of the river improving safety and increasing property values. The hope is that the greenway will eventually extend beyond connecting assets in southern Kenton and Campbell County to the urban core of the region."

Website Changes and Improvements

Trail Usage Page Updated - I have added a link to MVRPC’s “2009 Miami Valley Trail User Report Survey” on my Trail Usage page for your use. This survey was completed in 2009 and released 9 December, 2009. This is an important document because it is the first time that an organized look was taken about trail traffic and its economic impact on Montgomery, Greene and Miami Counties trails. To summarize the findings the report found that:
- Approximately 10,000 trail users were counted on Sunday July 26th. 4,431 were counted on the two Wednesdays July 29th. and August 12th.
- The majority of trail users were cyclists. On the weekend over 2/3 of trail users were cyclists.
- Trail users tend to be men. See my Website Statistics Page for more demographic data.
- The Economic Impact of the trails can be summarized as follows:
  See my Trail Usage Statistics and Economic Benefits of Trails for more economic information.
  - Hard Goods - Purchases of hard goods for trail use was between $6.4 and $7.1 million on an annual basis.
  - Soft Goods - Purchases like food and drink totaled between $5.5 and $7.1 million on an annual basis.
  - Overnight accommodations for trail users from outside the region totaled between $1.6 and $1.8 million on an annual basis.
Tecumseh Trail Page Completely Updated – I took pictures of the new (usable but not yet formerly open) trail April 7th and published the new, revised page 9 April. More importantly, Clark County is planning to continue the trail South another 3.7 miles to the Tecumseh YMCA and then to the town of Park Layne. Long range plans (and with a little bit of luck) are being made to continue the trail West through Bethel Township. Then the trail will cross into Miami County, connect with Carriage Hill MetroPark and Farm. After reaching Carriage Hill MetroPark the trail will , cross under Brandt Pike (SR-201), and go through the new development; Carriage Trails. The trail will continue West to Troy Pike (SR-202). If all goes well, eventually the trail will connect with to the Great Miami River Recreation Trail at Taylorsville MetroPark. This connection will connect Clark County directly to Montgomery and Miami County trails and add more connectivity to what I have begun to call The Miami Valley Trails System.
Stewart Street Bikeway Open - I removed the "Closed Detour" signs on my Stewart Street Bikeway page. The University of Dayton has completely rebuilt this short 1/2 mile trail from the campus to the Stewart Street Bridge. The University says that this year they will have a path from the West side of the Stewart Street Bridge South on Edwin C. Moses Blvd. to the U. D. Arena .

Photos & Information Wanted Department

None this month

Did you Know Department?

Google Maps Now Includes Bike Trails – Last month I told you about Google Maps now including Bike Maps. What I did not try was asking Google to give me turn by turn directions (using bicycle routes) from one location to another. I tried that recently. I went to Google Maps. On the left side of the screen I clicked on "Get Directions." I put in the top Box "Piqua, Ohio" . I put "Urbana, Ohio in the bottom box. Underneath the two boxes From and To: there is a drop-down box that says by default "By Car." Click on it and select "By Bicycle" and then click on the "Get Directions: button. On the left side of the page are the turn-by-turn directions. Next to some of them is a camera symbol that tells you there is a picture you can see. On the right side of the screen is the map with the route outlined in blue. Click Here to see what I did. If you want to read my discussion of Google Maps from last month's newsletter Click Here.

Not All Miami Valley Trails are In Google Maps - Also last month I told you that not all of Miami Valley's trails are represented in Google Maps. However, I have been submitting "Report a Problem" (it's on the lower right hand corner of any map in Google) and others are doing so as well. If you see a map that should show one of our trails, take a minute and submit a "Report a Problem."

Announcements of Upcoming Events

See Upcoming Events Area

Simon Kenton Pathfinders “Poker Run” - 15 May 2010 – 8:00 AM Saturday 2010, Melvin Miller Park, Urbana, Ohio (more to come)
“Mark Your Calendars and Plan to Attend the Simon Kenton Pathfinders Frontiersman Bicycle Poker Ride sponsored by SUBWAY! Ride your bike and collect your cards. The best hand wins $1,000! Registration fee is $20 per rider which includes lunch, snacks, eligibility for door prizes, and a fun filled day! T-shirts will be available for an additional charge. Registration forms coming soon to or your local bike shop! Get a Brochure and Application Here
Darke County Engineer Jim Surber Gets “Roasted” – Mr. Jim Surber; Darke County Engineer for 30 years will be “Roasted” for trail funding on 22 June 2010 at the Shawnee Prairie Preserve in Greenville. Darke County Parks District is having the event to help raise “In-Kind” donations for the construction of the next section of the Greenville Creek Trail. Tickets will be at $15 each, More details will be in our May 2010 Newsletter.

Webpage of the Month

Every month in this portion of my newsletter, I link to one webpage (or the beginning page of a group of webpages that refer to one trail) in this space. I do this so that my readers, who may not have ever seen that webpage get an opportunity to find it (and perhaps find some use of it).

Trails in Miami County Page - I have selected this page for April since there is such a lot of construction planned for 2010 in Miami County. The page contains information about each trail section either built or planned. There are links to every section of trail that has been completed and there is a lot of information on the page about trail planning in Miami County.

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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