Miami Valley RailTrails Newsletter February 2011

Miami Valley RailTrails Newsletter
February 2011

Dear Friends: It’s Monday 14 February. You're getting this email one day early since I have some appointments on Tuesday the 15th. 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

Clark County to Reopen Bike Trails and Parks! - The Clark County Parks District Board of Commissioners voted unanimously on 6 February, 2011 to reopen the trails & parks on April 1st. Mr. Jim Campbell, the park director reported to the board that is only possible with volunteer help to maintain the trails & parks this year. This will allow the Little Miami Scenic Trail & the Prairie Grass Trails in Clark County to be reopened for the 2011 riding season! They will be asking for trail volunteers later this bicycling season. Please stay tuned for volunteer opportunities to maintain these vital trails. Please see the Springfield News Sun article about the meeting by Clicking Here.
Mad River Recreation Trail Extension - For some years Five Rivers MetroParks and the City of Riverside have been working to extend this trail East from Eastwood MetroPark to alongside Riverside’s Springfield Street to connect to Huffman MetroPark and the Wright Brothers Bikeway on Kaufman Avenue that runs from Huffman MetroPark into Fairborn. A meeting was held at the City of Riverside Council Chambers Monday 7 February, 2011 to discuss the final alignment of the trail which will appear as a wide sidewalk along the North side of Springfield Street. The trail will go by Riverside’s “Center of Flight” (which is a new commercial development), the Air Force Museum and the main Gate of Area “B” of Wright Patterson Air Force Base. The trail will allow base employees to commute to work as well as performing the very important task of connecting the Wright Brothers Bikeway and Fairborn to the entire trail system. I am hoping to see many Fairborn residents use the trail. Five Rivers MetroParks hopes to sign a construction contract to begin work on the trail in July 2011 with a completion probably in Spring 2012. See Google Maps for the location of the trail.
Possible Extension of Prairie Grass Trail in London (Madison County) – Norfolk Southern Railroad would like to close a RR crossing in downtown London. They are offering the city $30K in compensation. The City Council is looking into it. They are…“exploring the possibility of converting Norfolk Southern’s currently unused spur between Walnut and Midway streets to a recreational trail as part of an incentive package.” The current Prairie Grass Trail (Ohio Route #1) ends at Walnut Street behind the Madison County Senior Center. Then the trail takes city streets for about 1.5 miles until it gets to the resumption of the formal trail at Maple Street. The proposed extension would take the trail East from Walnut Street about .81 miles and end in downtown London at Midway Street. Then it is only about .3 miles (as the crow flies) from Midway Street to the trail at Maple. Street. If the London City Council can purchase this last portion of unused rail-bed then the Prairie Grass Trail would be complete (with no gaps) through the City of London.
Please see Google Maps for an image of the railbed in downtown London. I have the image oriented so that the Madison County Senior Center (identified on the map) is at the bottom left of the map. You can manipulate the map yourself to see the proposed route on the un-used railbed.
New Construction from Middletown To Franklin on the Great Miami River Recreation Trail - The City of Middletown has performed the engineering for the gap in the trail between Middletown and Franklin to the North. The trail has about a 2 mile gap from the current end of trail at State Route 73. See the current webpage . I understand that: “The entire gap is currently designed and is being review by ODOT for environmental & right of way. Middletown and Franklin currently do not have funding to build the entire section. The project is currently out for bid with plans to construct it this Spring pending ODOT approval. If approval is not made by April the work will have to be delayed until Fall 2011 or Spring 2012 due to environmental issues.
New Construction from Hamilton North to Rentschler Preserve - Butler County will build 1.9 miles of trail in the Rentschler Preserve in Fairfield. This will begin to close the gap between the existing trail in Hamilton and the Southern end of the trail in Middletown. A Open House meeting will be held at the Butler County Engineer's Office on 22 February, 2011, from 4PM to 8PM. The meeting will be held in
Butler County Engineer’s Office , Multimedia Conference Room, 1921 Fairgrove Avenue (Route 4), Hamilton, OH 45011. For more information contact Hans Landefeld, Hamilton Community Foundation at 937.231.1791 or e-mail: landefeldh@gmail.com
Status Report on Trails and Greenways in the Cincinnati Area (Source: OKI) -OKI maintains an inventory of existing and proposed trails (shared use paths) in our eight county planning area. This report was updated in January and documents progress made in the past three years on the Ohio River Trail, Great Miami River Trail, Williamsburg – Batavia Hike and Bike Trail, Murray Avenue Trail, Mill Creek Greenway, West Fork Mill Creek Trail and Licking River Greenway. Descriptions of the Little Miami Scenic Trail, Five Mile Trail, Miami 2 Miami Connection, Dearborn Trail, and Oxford Loop Trail are included. The report also includes state and national routes that pass through the OKI region such as the American Discovery Trail and the Underground Railroad Bike Route. Find it on their website at: http://www.oki.org/pdf/trailplans.pdf

Website Changes and Improvements

Mad River Recreation Trail Page Updated – I added new information from the 7 February City of Riverside meeting. I added links to the other trails that the Mad River Recreation Trail will connect to when finished to Huffman MetroPark.
Trail Route Numbers Change in 2011 - In order to make the Ohio To Erie Trail “Ohio Route #1” all of the way from Cincinnati to Cleveland, the following trails are being remarked this Spring. I have changed many pages on my website to conform to the new route numbers. A summary of changes can be seen on my About Trails Names and Route Numbers page; Trail changes are as follows:
- The Little Miami Scenic Trail from Xenia Station to Springfield - changed to Route #3
- The Simon Kenton Trail from Springfield to Urbana - changed to Route #3
- The Xenia to Jamestown Connector - changed to Route #4
- The Ohio to Erie Trail from Xenia to Cleveland - (AKA Prairie Grass Trail) changed to Route #1 (in fact it will be Route #1 all the way from Cincinnati to Cleveland!)
- The Ohio to Erie Trail - The Fund's Board has already purchased the new number overlays and simply await their delivery to their organization. The have volunteers lined up to do the work.
Piqua to Sidney (New Page) - I have started adding new pages to my Great Miami River Recreation Trail in Miami County. I am working to "rationalize" all of them. That is, I want them to look more alike. Also I am re-writing some of them so all of the pages will be oriented from South to North. I have decided that RiverScape in downtown Dayton is to be the "Zero Mileage Point" in the same way that Xenia Station is the "Zero Mileage Point" for the Little Miami Scenic Trail. All trail directions and distances are measured from Xenia Station.

Photos & Information Wanted Department

None this month

Did you Know Department?

Department of Justice Ruling 03/15/2011 - Allows "Other power-driver mobility devices" to be used by "individuals with mobility disabilities" I have asked the local parks departments what they will do to ensure that only "individuals with mobility disabilities use power assisted devices on their trails. For more please read "American Trails: Accessibility Rules" I'll let you know more about this as the story develops.
Certain Battery propelled bicycles may be able to use trails - A Federal Law, HR727, makes certain low-powered battery operated bicycles as being regulated no differently than any other non-powered bicycle. In order to quality the bicycle must have functional pedals, electrically driven with no more than a 750 Watt (1 horsepower motor) and have a max speed on level ground of no more than 20MPH. I have asked the parks departments if these "bicycles" will be allowed on our trails? For more information please see Electric Bike Regulations.

Announcements of Upcoming Events

See Upcoming Events Area

Bicycling Events are about to start for 2011. Please let me know early this year about events you'd like publicized on this website.

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).

About Multi-Use Trail Names and Route Numbers - (Since I changed route numbers on a number of pages this month) our Webpage of the Month is About Multi-Use Trail Names and Route Numbers. I started this page years ago, because every political jurisdiction (city, town or village) that had a trail running through it, HAD to name THEIR TRAIL with a unique name. It makes explaining trails very difficult. So when the Miami Valley started to adopt trail route numbers, I was completely in favor. The page shows some of the names that trails go by as well as the entire route structure and an explanation of where the numbering system came from.

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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