Miami Valley RailTrails Newsletter December 2006

Miami Valley RailTrails Newsletter
December 2006

It’s Saturday 16 December 2006. Merry Christmas to all of you! I hope you and your family have a wonderful holiday season. 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

T-Connector Well Under Way – The tunnel under State Route 444 and bridge across the Norfolk Southern tracks at Huffman MetroPark is well under way. I added new photos to several pages on the website (see below) so you could see what was going on. The $1.7 million construction is planned to be completed by July 2007. I will be adding more new construction photos to the pages soon.

Website Changes and Improvements

T-Connector Page Updated- I got some new photos provided by Mr. Bob Gray of the new construction to connect Huffman MetroPark and the planned Three Counties Trail to the Wright Brothers Memorial and the Wright Brothers Bikeway that runs along Kauffman Avenue into Fairborn. I have several new overhead shots from Goggle Earth that I annotated to show you the construction and a link to Yahoo Maps so that you can see the area and manipulate the map for yourself.
Three Counties Trail Page Updated – I also used the same material (above) to update the Three Counties Trail page. This trail is planned to run from Eastwood MetroPark where the Mad River Recreation Trail ends and the Creekside Recreation Trail begins, to Huffman MetroPark, Fairborn and Enon Park in Enon, about 15.1 miles. Unfortunately Five Rivers MetroParks, acting as the executive agent for Greene and Clark Counties has not been able to buy the railbed from Norfolk Southern Railroad as yet.

Photos Wanted Section

None at this time..

Did You Know Department

GOBA Is Coming To Troy! – Yes! The 2007 the Great Ohio Bike Adventure (GOBA) will be coming to Miami County. The GOBA picks a new route in Ohio each year. The 2007 route will start in Celina, go through Van Wert, Wapakoneta, Troy, and Versailles and will end in Celina. It will stop in Troy on Thursday 21 June 2007 for a layover day. See http://www.goba.com/
Clark and Miami Counties seeking Volunteers for Trail Guardians- Both county Parks Department announced this year that they are looking for a “few good men and women” to become trail volunteers. I was told by both organizations that you don’t have to be a resident of Miami County or Clark County to volunteer to be a trail guardian. I am providing below the information for each county that I published previously.
- Miami County Parks Starts Trail Monitor Program - The Miami County Parks Department announced in the Dayton Daily News on 16 November 2006 that they were starting a group of volunteers to ride the growing system of trails in Miami County. CPR and First Aid Training will be offered to the volunteers by the Piqua Fire Department. The Troy Fire Department will also help with bicycle training. Volunteers will need to provide their own bikes. About 20 monitors will be selected to start the program. More can be added if needed. For more information on the volunteer program, contract Ms. Jennifer Weiskittle the park district volunteer coordinator, at (937) 667-1286.
- Clark County Starts “Trail Guardian” Group – National Trail Parks and Recreation of Clark County/Springfield is in process of establishing a formal "Trail Sentry" Group similar to the programs already functioning in Greene, Montgomery and Madison Counties. National Trail Parks & Recreation currently manages approximately 37 miles of recreational trail, including the Springfield area. Volunteer services are needed in all areas and time frames. This program will benefit all who use the trail and be beneficial to the central point of contact needed to keep our trail system clean, in good repair, and safer thru observation reporting. Persons interested in volunteering for the Sentry program should contact National Trail office on Mitchell Blvd, in Springfield Oh. Phone 937-328-7275 Mon-Fri between the hours of 7:00AM-5:00PM.

Announcements of Upcoming Cycling Events
(Also See Events Page )

Young’s Dairy Ice Cream Charity Bike Tour 2007 – This great bicycle tour for Charity has already announced that it will be held on 21 and 22 July 2007 starting and finishing at Young’s Jersey Dairy in Yellow Springs Ohio, For more information see http://www.youngsdairy.com/mc100.htm

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

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