Miami Valley RailTrails Newsletter August 2007

Miami Valley RailTrails Newsletter
August 2007

It’s Wednesday 14 August 2007. 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

T- Connector Connects to Wright Brothers Flying Field (WPAFB) – For those of you who have not yet ridden the Wright Brothers Bikeway to the T-Connector under SR-444, there is an additional area to explore. As a part of the T-Connector opening the National Parks Service has seen to it that gate 18C from Huffman MetroPark to the Wright Brothers Flying Field on Wright Patterson Air Force Base is open from 8:00 AM to 6:00 PM daily, seven days a week. This means that you can ride your bicycle onto the Wright Brothers Flying Field. At the exit from the T-Connector tunnel onto Huffman MetroPark turn right after you come through the tunnel and go down Marl Road to the open gate. Continue down Marl Road (watch out for cars) until you reach the Flying Field parking lot and there you are! You can also ride around the Flying Field. From Gate 18C around the area is a flat 3 mile ride.

Please Note: The base’s Rod & Gun Club on Hebble Creek Road are allowed to use their Trap & Skeet Range on Wednesday’s. They usually barricade Pylon Road and sometimes Marl Road. If you see signs saying “Firing Range Open” or something like that on a Wednesday, please turn around. DO NOT ride past the signs.

Note: For you base employees who live in Forest Ridge, Quail Hollow, Huber Heights and other Northern suburbs, it seemed to me when I took the new pictures of the Wright Brothers Flying Field, that if you ride onto the Flying Field and then ride up Hebble Creek Road you might be able to get access to Area “A” and “C” via the gate used for trucks near the old Equestrian Center. If one of you has successfully accomplished this, please write me and let me know?

Huber Heights and Bethel Township Team Up to Plan Trail – For some time Bethel Township personnel have been planning a trail through the township from Park Layne in Clark County West to connect with the Great Miami River Recreation Trail near Taylorsville MetroPark in Montgomery County. In Clark County, a trail is also being planned to run North from Park Layne alongside State Route 235 to connect to the Tecumseh Trail in New Carlisle. The Tecumseh Trail is scheduled to be built through New Carlisle in 2009.

What makes this trail plan so attractive is that the failed Bench Rock Subdivision and golf course in Huber Heights is being developed by a new contractor. Since it runs From Brandt Pike (SR-201) West to Troy Pike (SR-202) in Huber Heights, it becomes the preferred route for the trail. It will enable the trail to go under both SR-201 and SR-202 on its way to connect to the Great Miami River Recreation Trail at Taylorsville MetroPark. Connectivity to Carriage Hill MetroPark is also a part of this trail plan. This trail is in the planning stages only. The route is not yet determined and all property is not yet secured for the trail. I’ll keep you informed of this un-named trail’s progress.
Trail Development in Western Ohio – For some time plans have been made by the Miami County Bikeway Task Force (Chairman Mr. Bob Shook), to connect the trails in Piqua East through Fletcher, Lena and St. Paris to Urbana (See Trails in Miami County). At the same time the Task Force has been working to connect Piqua West to Covington, Bradford and Gettysburg and ending at Greenville, the Darke County Seat. At the same time the Darke County Parks District is working to secure right of way in the county to the Northwest to connect with the planned trail in Union City. I will be attending a meeting of the Ohio/Indiana Greenway Connector steering committee this week and I’ll report back with more information about the Union City Trail (nominal name) that is planned to be built this year.

Why is this important? The Miami County Task Force has been working to build a trail North from Montgomery County through Tipp City, Troy and Piqua to Sidney in Shelby County. At the same time momentum for the East-West trail has begun. It may be that the trail from Urbana West to Piqua, Greenville and Union City may be of more importance to both Ohio and Indiana. It marks the first trail that will cross the boundary between the two states. For that reason I will start calling this development “The Ohio-Indiana Trail” (nominal name). If built, the “Ohio-Indiana Trail” would run over 50 miles from Urbana to Union City and connect to trails planned in Indiana.

Website Changes and Improvements

New Carlisle Names Its Planned Trail – Yes! The City of New Carlisle and Clark County have been planning a 2 mile trail through the city for some time. Unfortunately, from my point of view, until recently it did not have an “Official Name”. Well. That has changed. The trail that will be built in 2009 is now named “The Tecumseh Trail.”
Added Links for Trail Construction Delays – I have added links from some trail webpages to places where you can get the “hot poop” on construction near a trail that might cause you a delay. For example National Trail Parks and Recreation (Clark County) has on their website information about construction on the Simon Kenton Trail and on the Prairie Grass Trail. So I have added links from those pages to the National Trail website so that you can get the most up to date information about those trails. In the same way, I have added a link from the Great Miami River Recreation Trail (Montgomery County) to the Miami Conservancy District’s pages about trail delays and construction.
Approved Projects Page Updated – I downloaded the 185 page Transportation Improvement Plan (TIP) from the MVRPC website recently as well as Amendment 1 to see what had changed in funding for our trails. On the Approved Projects page I describe the funding, its date and link it to the trail page. I also provided information for trails in the Cincinnati region of the state that is funded by OKI using their TIP and information from Mr. Don Burrell of their office. Thanks Don!
Updated Webpage for Trail in Hamilton Ohio – Following my request for pictures of the existing portion of the Great Miami River Recreation Trail (Butler & Hamilton Counties), I received some photos and encouragement from Mr. Don Burrell, of OKI in Cincinnati. I also talked to some parks folks in Hamilton as well as Fairfield. The City of Hamilton is planned about a 5 miles extension of the trail North to the Rentschler Forest Preserve. This is a part of the overall plan to extend the trail 28 miles from Dayton to Hamilton. The City of Fairfield is planned a Southern extension of the trail to its wastewater treatment plant south of the City. There is the possibility that the trail could be extended South to Hamilton County’s Shaker Trace Trail in the Miami Whitewater Forest.

Photos & Information Wanted Department

None this month.

Did you Know Department?

Website Breaks 1 Million Hits A Month (Again) – In 2006 for the first time, this website broke one million hits a month. It was for the months of June & July. This year (2007) the website has broken the record for three months May, June & July. It shows that my faithful readers are using Miami Valley RailTrails as an information resource in their trail use planning.

Announcements of Upcoming Events

Cardinal Greenway Musical Ride - 8 September 2007 in Richmond Indiana. This popular ride will introduce you to the Cardinal Greenway Trail in Indiana. You can download and print the registration form from my website.

Out of Town Events - I've added some cycling events that are out of town to the Events Page for your reading pleasure

Also See Upcoming Events Area

Webpage of the Month

This is a new area of the month events page. Here each month I'll tell you about a page on this website that you may have never seen. For example, how many of you have looked at my Miami Valley RailTrails page? On this page I detail every trail in every one of the nine counties in the Miami Valley that have trails (that I am tracking). I have mileage and status for the 273.2 miles of trail. On a table at the bottom of the page I have "Connected Trails in the Miami Valley." It explains all of the 205.7 miles (by my county) of trail that connect to other trails and exactly how. Check the page out. You may learn something new about the Miami Valley Trails System, as I have taken to calling it.

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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