Miami Valley RailTrails Newsletter
November 2007

It’s Monday 12 November 2007. Here is the news about trails in the Miami Valley.  Please read on. 

Trail Construction and Improvements

• Construction Starts on Prairie Grass Trail East Of London -  Paving of the 6.5 miles of trail East of London beginning at Maple Street and continuing East to Wilson Road started the week of 14 October 2007. It is estimated by the contractor that the work will be completed prior to Thanksgiving.
  
  

• Stewart Street Bridge to Be Replaced – The Stewart Street Bridge in downtown Dayton is planned to be replaced starting in June 2008. The $16.5M construction is planned to take 18 months. When it is complete the new bridge will be six lanes wide instead of the current four lanes. There will be a 10’ sidewalk on each side (North & South) to accommodate pedestrians and cyclists. During construction, the detour will be North to the new Washington Street Bridge (just North of US-35). I am told the detour will be clearly marked. 
  

• Preble County Starts Trail Planning – The Preble County Parks Department has taken the lead to start planning for multi-use trails in the county. The county currently owns two thirds of the railbed from about one half mile South of Verona West to New Paris, which is within a few miles of the Indiana border. The Parks Department met with the County Commissioners in October to discuss options. If successful the trail could connect the Wolf Creek Recreation Trail West almost to Richmond Indiana. 
  
  Too See the Trail Route click on This Link to be taken to Yahoo Maps. There you’ll see the Wolf Creek Recreation Trail going almost due North to Verona at Dodson. There is a railbed linked to it that starts in the middle of the photo and runs Northwest to West Sonora. It then turns due West and continues to West Manchester. It continues West from West Manchester along Cr-31 to Eldorado. Continuing West it turn Southwest at the intersection of Cr-31 and Cr-10 and then follows the Eldorado-New Paris Road into the City of New Paris. 
  
  
  

• Union City Gateway Continues Development Effort – In spite of the best efforts of Union City, Ohio and Union City, Indiana, work has not yet started on the Union City Gateway trail. As I have told you in the past, this trail is important because it is the first trail that crosses the Ohio/Indiana border. I am informed that they will not break ground until next year. But I expect that this first piece of what I have started to call “The Ohio-Indiana Trail” will be finished by next Summer. 
  
  

• New Trail Open in Lawrenceburg, Indiana-  A new section of the trail that starts in Aurora Indiana and is being built East towards Cincinnati opened 27 October 2007. The trail is now 4.5 miles and extends to the American Electric Power plant in Lawrenceburg. Click Here to see the brochure which contains a good map. It is hoped that this trail can be continued East to meet the Great Miami River. If the Great Miami River Recreation Trail can be build South from Hamilton to the point where the Great Miami River meets the Ohio River, that will provide connectivity into Indiana again (See Above). Also it is about 10 miles from Lawrenceburg East to downtown Cincinnati. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if that connection could be made! Click Here to see the Brochure and Map for the New Trail. 
  
  I know the next item is not about trail construction. But The Corwin Peddler has been an institution on the Little Miami Scenic Trail in Corwin for as long as I can remember. 
  
  

• Corwin Peddler Has Re-opened! – For those cyclists who use the Little Miami Scenic Trail routinely, the Corwin Peddler has been a “Must Stop”. For many years they rented bicycles and sold Young’s Jersey Dairy ice cream. The original owners sold out and the buyer was in business only one season. In Fall 2006 the Copple Family bought the shop and refurbished it. They re-opened 15 June 2007 and they have added luncheons to what had been only an ice cream shop. Their menu has English Tea as well as other English Favorites. Click Here to see their menu. Yum! Oh. And they are selling Young’s ice cream again!
  
  

   

Website Changes and Improvements

• New Pictures of Xenia-Jamestown Connector - I added some photos to the webpage supplied by Greene County Parks. The trail is still under construction but is planned to be complete by Thanksgiving. With the extension from Jamestown East to the Fayette County line, the trail is 12 miles long. I am informed that there is a small staging area at Rosemoor Road (East end of trail). At attempt will be made to build a small staging area at Jasper Road (West end of trail).
  I have made changes to the webpage to reflect the additional 4.3 miles. I have also added to the total miles of trails in Miami Valley. That total is now 308 miles of multi-use trail in what I am calling the Miami Valley Trails System. I have updated the Miami Valley RailTrails page where I keep track of every trail including its length. And I have updated the Home Page with the total (right side of Home Page) and the What’s New? page with the total. 
  
  
  

Photos & Information Wanted Department

• None this month. 

Did you Know Department?

• Website is 10 Years Old November 2007 - Happy Birthday! – Did you know that Miami Valley RailTrails is 10 years old this month? Yes,  I started this website in November 1997 after attending the dedication of the Creekside Trail in Greene County. I asked the then head of Greene County Parks, Mr. Tim Leiweg, if he had a website for the Creekside Trail? He said “No.” I asked him if he wanted one? He said: “Yes.” The site started with about 7 webpages set up to accommodate users with 14.4 Kbs modems. Yes; that’s what people who had “fast modems” were connecting to the Internet with in 1997. Even now, the webpages are sized so that they will download in a reasonable time for someone using a 57.6 Kbs modem. So those of you who have DSL or a cable modem connection are served the pages quite fast. For more history about his website see: "What's a RailTrail and How This All Started"
  
  
  

Announcements of Upcoming Events

 

 See  Upcoming Events Area - Nothing new this month – Cycling events are about finished for 2007.

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. 
  
  

  • What’s New? Page -  This month’s page is the “What’s New?” page. Have you ever looked at my “What Is New on Website” page? You can find it by going to the Contents Page OR click on the “Other Links” dropdown menu and it’s the first entry. I use the What’s New page to tell my readers (You) what major changes I have made to the website recently. For example, if I add a new page to the website or revise one materially then I’ll add an entry there. In October I took 96 pictures of the new trail being built between Triangle MetroPark in downtown Dayton to connect to the existing trail in and South of Taylorsville MetroPark; I added 17 new pictures and four maps to the Great Miami River Recreation Trail (Northern Segment) page for your reading and viewing pleasure. So! Now you know about the What’s New? Page. You should consult it from time to time to see what I have changed, added or (rarely) deleted on the website.
    
    

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

Clark County Trails  |  Buck Creek Trail | Simon Kenton Trail | Prairie Grass Trail | 
 | The Tecumseh Trail |

Greene County Trails   Creekside Trail  | Prairie Grass Trail |  Little Miami Scenic Trail | T-Connector  |   
| Wright Brothers' Bikeway  | Xenia-Jamestown Connector |  Xenia Station | I-675 Crossing | 

Montgomery County Trails  Creekside Recreation Trail  | Great Miami River Recreation Trail |
  Great Miami River Recreation Trail (Northern Segment) | Mad River Recreation Trail | 
| Stillwater River Recreation Trail | Stewart St. Bikeway  | Iron Horse Trail | 
|  The Great Miami River Recreation Trail [GMRRT] in Warren & Butler Counties  | 
| Wolf Creek Recreation Trail  |  

 Miami County Trails  Trails in Miami County |Section 1 | Section 2 | Piqua Activities Trail For Health  |
|  Canal Run | The River's Edge | Troy Bike Trail | Section 5 | Tipp City Trail

 Warren County Trails| Lebanon Countryside Trail |
|  The Great Miami River Recreation Trail (GMRRT in Warren & Butler Counties  |  Little Miami Scenic Trail |

Resources | Complete Ohio Trails List (Alphabetical) | Ohio Trails List (By County with Maps) | 
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